News Corp. (NWS-A) and Time Warner (TWX) have reached an agreement on an all-encompassing contract that is said to have been finalized on Dec. 28.
The deal, according to executives close to the proceedings, includes:
"... retransmission-consent carriage for Fox’s owned-and-operated stations through 2009; renewals for Fox News and Speed Channel; the addition of Fox Reality Channel to its channel lineup; and a commitment to the business channel 
Fox News has been contemplating launching."
A spokesman for Fox News has confirmed the components of the deal; including the extension for the Fox News channel and the placeholder agreement for the proposed business channel.
Others close to the deal said that the terms are similar to those negotiated by Fox News with Cablevision Systems (CVC) last fall, concerning the license-fee structure that will escalate. In the later years of the deal, the agreement will top out somewhere in the 80-cent range.
The two deals average around 75 cents a month per subscriber for the duration of the contract.
For the business channel to become a reality, Fox says that it needs around 30 million homes before it would be launched. One reason the strong presense of Time Warner Cable in Manhattan is so important.
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