The phone-hacking scandal that took down British tabloid newspaper 'The News of the World' and could now threaten the parent company behind Fox TV, has reached all the way up to the top of the corporate power structure.

Today, News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch, his son James and former senior executive Rebekah Brooks will be quizzed by British MPs on what they knew about the phone hacking allegations engulfing News International, the British arm of Murdoch's global empire, and whether there was a cover-up.

They are not the only ones facing questions today. Two former high-ranking police officers will also be appearing. Sir Paul Stephenson resigned as Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sunday night, and John Yates quit his post as an Assistant Commissioner Monday.

In a move that has college football fans breathing a sigh of relief, Time Warner Cable has agreed to the Federal Communications Commission's request to continue negotiations over retransmission rights with News Corporation, whose Fox stations are scheduled to cover the Sugar Bowl on Friday and the Cotton Bowl on Saturday.

What has those same fans waiting to inhale is Fox's cool response to the proposal.

The move by the FCC was an attempt to forestall the broadcaster's promise to pull its stations from a number of markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Tampa and Orlando by new year's day. The dispute between Time Warner and News Corp. stems from Fox's demand that Time Warner shell out a dollar per month per subscriber for the right to retransmit their broadcasts. Time Warner has argued that the fee is excessive and has counter offered 25-30 cents a head.

At an hour into the new year on the West Coast, Fox is still broadcasting on Time Warner Cable as subscribers attempt to regulate their breathing patterns in anticipation of the Sugar Bowl. To be continued...

In the words of Martin Lawrence from Bad Boys 2, "s#&$ just got real."

The never-ending spat between Time Warner Cable and the Fox dynasty could put some big college football games in jeopardy of not getting any airtime. If the two sides don't reach some kind of middle ground soon, it could put the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, the Fedex Orange Bowl and the Allstate Sugar Bowl in danger of a blackout.

Of course, the threat of losing the American earned right to sit on the couch and watch an endless series of football games during a holiday has spurred the government to take action. Senator John Kerry, the head of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communication, Technology, and the Internet, has sent a letter to the two companies asking them to finish this thing up by New Years' Day. I wonder, can Congress declare war on a major media conglomerate? Guess we'll find out soon enough.