LOS ANGELES » The Fox television network allowed its broadcast signal to be carried by Time Warner Cable for a brief extension past a midnight deadline as talks over fees continued.

Time Warner Cable Inc. made the announcement as the clock rolled past midnight yesterday on the East Coast.

Fox had threatened to pull the signal from 14 TV stations it owns, a move that would have affected more than 6 million customers of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks in markets such as New York, Los Angeles and Orlando, Fla. The move would have occurred at midnight in each time zone.

Pulling the programs would mean today's Sugar Bowl between the Florida Gators and the Cincinnati Bearcats would be dropped for those affected markets. The Cotton Bowl tomorrow, the NFL's final regular season contests on Sunday and “;The Simpsons”; and other Fox shows also were at risk.

The dispute focuses on how much Fox is paid by cable companies to retransmit those stations' signals. Neither company said how long the extension would last.

Six Fox cable channels including FX, Speed and Fuel, were still being distributed, as carriage arrangements on those did not expire until midnight Pacific time.

Hawaii viewers would not be affected as much as the rest of the nation because KHON is owned by New Vision Television rather than Fox, thus meaning the football games still would be shown locally.

However, some 415,000 Hawaii viewers face losing programming on such Fox channels as Food Network, Fox Sports West, Prime Ticket, FX, Fuel, Speed Channel, Fox Soccer Channel, and Fox Sports en Espanol.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski called for the extension and said “;companies shouldn't force cable-watching football fans to scramble for other means of TV delivery on New Year's weekend.”;

Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks have resisted paying a new $1 monthly fee per subscriber that Fox owner News Corp. is demanding from both operators to retransmit signals from 14 Fox-owned TV stations.

Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt has called the fee demand excessive and said the cable operator has reached deals for “;much lower”; rates with Fox affiliates—stations that carry Fox programming but are owned by other companies.