YouTube TV, Paramount reach short-term extension

In an eleventh-hour agreement late Thursday night, YouTube TV reached what it called a “short-term extension” with Paramount to keep channels such as CBS, Comedy Central and MTV on its subscription streaming service after access to them was set to go dark following failed negotiations around a contract renewal.

“Subscribers continue to have access to Paramount channels, including CBS. We appreciate your patience as we continue to negotiate on your behalf,” YouTube TV announced in a social media post late Thursday night.

The period of the extension was not provided. CBS News has reached out to Paramount, its parent company, for comment. 

The dispute has centered on what are known as carriage fees, which are the payments that paid TV providers like YouTube make to broadcasters for the right to carry the broadcaster’s programming. Conflicts between providers and broadcast players have become increasingly common in recent years, leading to regular channel and content blackouts. 

Newspaper Ads Canyon Crest CA

“Paramount has a long track record of successfully and amicably renewing partnerships with every major distributor, including several in recent months, and we will continue our efforts to reach a new agreement with YouTube TV,” a spokesperson for Paramount stated prior to the announcement of the short-term deal.

“YouTube TV is attempting to pressure Paramount to agree to one-sided terms, and these non-market demands may lead to an avoidable loss of Paramount’s networks on YouTube TV, in addition to the removal of Paramount+ and BET+ from YouTube’s Primetime Channels, on February 13,” the spokesperson added.

Carriage-fee fights can lead to frustrations for viewers, such as when a 2024 dispute between the Walt Disney Co. and DirecTV led to a blackout of several popular Disney-owned channels and streaming services, for millions of DirectTV customers.

“We’ve been working hard to reach a fair agreement with Paramount that allows us to keep their channels, including CBS and CBS Sports, on YouTube,” Alphabet’s YouTube stated in an earlier programming update. If an agreement had not been reached and the content was not available for “an extended period of time,” subscribers would get an $8 credit, YouTube stated.

YouTube TV also told customers that they can sign up for Paramount+ to continue watching CBS and related content. CBS News is owned by Paramount Global, which offers the streaming service Paramount+.

Google did not respond to a request for comment earlier Thursday. 

The video service has more than 8 million subscribers, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said last year. The disagreement follows YouTube TV in January increasing the cost of its basic package by 10 bucks to $82.99 a month.