Fox News has settled a defamation lawsuit from the vote casting laptop company, Dominion, over its reporting of the 2020 presidential election.
In a last-minute agreement earlier than trial, the community agreed to pay $787.5m (£644m) - about 1/2 the $1.6bn in the beginning sought by way of Dominion.
Dominion argued its commercial enterprise used to be harmed through Fox spreading false claims the vote had been rigged towards Donald Trump.
The deal spares Fox executives such as Rupert Murdoch from having to testify.
The decide in the case is no longer required to supply his approval for the settlement.
In a statement, Fox stated Tuesday's agreement in one of the most predicted defamation trials in current US records mirrored its "commitment to the absolute best journalistic standards".
The Fox assertion delivered that the community "acknowledges the court's rulings discovering positive claims about Dominion to be false".
Dominion chief govt John Poulos advised a press convention the deal covered Fox "admitting to telling lies, inflicting sizeable injury to my company".
Justin Nelson, a Dominion attorney, instructed journalists that "the fact matters".
"Lies have consequences," he added. "Over two years in the past a torrent of lies swept Dominion and election officers throughout America into an choice universe of conspiracy theories, inflicting grievous damage to Dominion and the country."
Mr Nelson introduced that for "democracy to endure", Americans need to "share a dedication to facts".
Opening arguments in the case had been due to begin on Tuesday afternoon.
The announcement of a contract got here after an unexplained prolong of a number of hours as soon as jury decision had finished, prompting hypothesis that talks have been underway in the back of the scenes.
On Monday, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis introduced that the begin of the trial would be delayed by means of 24 hours.
Although he gave no reason, US media stated that it used to be to provide each aspects an possibility to attain a settlement.
On Tuesday morning, however, each aspects regarded to be digging in for a prolonged trial.
Attorneys for Fox had persistently objected to the $1.6bn in damages sought by using Colorado-based Dominion, characterising the parent as hugely inflated.
The "real cost" of the case, Fox said, would be the "cherished" rights to freedom of speech and of the press enshrined in the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
Dominion's lawsuit argued that the conservative community had sullied the digital balloting company's recognition with the aid of airing falsehoods about the 2020 vote being stolen from former President Trump.
The lawsuit claimed that the false claims had been partly an effort to win over viewers indignant by way of Fox's choice to - effectively - name the vital electoral country of Arizona in favour of Mr Trump's then-challenger, Joe Biden.
Two of the Fox executives accountable for the Arizona choice misplaced their jobs two months later.
Legal findings launched in advance of the trial advised that a quantity of Fox executives and journalists privately wondered and disregarded conspiracy claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, however nevertheless put them on air.
Court archives exhibit that Mr Murdoch referred to the claims about Dominion as "really crazy", however failed to take any action.
In one sequence of textual content messages, top-rated host Tucker Carlson stated some of the claims have been "insane". Another host, Sean Hannity, stated privately he did now not agree with them "for one second".
Fox has stated the phrases had been taken out of context.
Ahead of the trial, Judge Davis dominated that the claims towards Dominion had already been confirmed false, emphasising that the falsehoods had been "crystal clear".
Had the trial long gone on, jurors would have been tasked solely with deciding whether or not Fox News acted with "actual malice" by using broadcasting claims it knew to be false.
Despite the great pay-out, some prison specialists consider the contract was once universal a high-quality effect for the network.
Syracuse University professor and First Amendment professional Roy Gutterman said: "Looking down the line at a six-week trial, this used to be going to be gruelling for all and sundry worried and probable embarrassing for Fox.
"But a verdict in opposition to Fox ought to have been even costlier, and had serious implications on subsequent rulings on the true malice popular and the First Amendment itself."
Civil litigation lawyer Michelle Simpson Tuegel informed the BBC that the contract "speaks to the big chance Fox noticed from this litigation".
"The reputational damage of having executives, consisting of chairman Rupert Murdoch, and hosts take the stand appears to have moved the events toward a resolution," Ms Tuegel added.
Fox nevertheless faces a second, comparable defamation lawsuit from some other election science firm, Smartmatic, which is looking for $2.7bn.
Dominion nonetheless has regulation pending in opposition to two conservative information networks, OAN and Newsmax.
The organisation has additionally sued Trump allies such as Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Mike Lindell.
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