Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch said during the company's quarterly earnings call with Wall Street analysts last month that the company is only at the beginning of what he called a "massive three-year cycle" of affiliate renewals. Despite pressure on programmers given ratings declines and accelerating cord-cutting, Fox has maintained it will stay aggressive in its dealings with distributors. In a statement last Sunday, DirecTV said Fox was engaging in methods it deemed all too familiar. In announcing the agreement today, an email from DirecTV underlined that view. "As expected," it said, "we renewed with Fox without affecting the entertainment experience for our customers, while still holding the line against the usual scare tactics."