Paramount Global plans to pull networks, stations Thursday from YouTubeTV (updated)
Latest carriage dispute comes out of nowhere
Update, February 14, 12:36 a.m.: Paramount and YouTubeTV have agreed to a short-term extension of their previous contract, keeping CBS and 22 other channels on the virtual provider as they hammer out a new agreement. Neither party stated how long the extension would last.
Original Story from February 12: Another carriage dispute is upon us as CBS owner Paramount Global and Google-owned YouTubeTV are on the verge of an impasse that could see the company’s 23 channels pulled from the virtual service.
Paramount’s co-CEOs George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy, and Brian Robbins all released a memo to employees Wednesday, stating the company would pull the channels if there isn’t a deal including BET, CBS, CBS Sports Network, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, and its related networks. This includes all 200+ CBS affiliates, especially Paramount’s 28 CBS-owned network stations, and independents including CBS Chicago. Their contract with YouTubeTV expires Thursday and negotiations haven’t been going well, as Paramount accused YouTubeTV of forcing them to accept what they describe as “one-sided terms” and “non-market demands”.
Paramount launched a website Wednesday night asking subscribers to contact YouTubeTV and ask them not to drop their channels, and YouTubeTV acknowledged the impasse on social media:
For our members: We work hard to bring you the content you love, delivered the way you want. Despite our best efforts, we’ve been unable to reach a fair deal with Paramount to keep their channels on YouTube TV and their channels may be unavailable tomorrow.…
— YouTube TV (@YouTubeTV) February 13, 2025
YouTubeTV subscribers received an e-mail Wednesday warning about the potential loss of channels. (The person who is writing this is a YouTubeTV subscriber and received mine.)
This isn’t the first major dispute YouTubeTV has gotten into with a major content provider; in December 2021, Disney pulled its channels before restoring them some 24 hours later. In 2019, the then-CBS Corporation pulled its channels from DirecTV and what was then called DirecTV Now, in a dispute that lasted months.
This development comes as YouTubeTV has become the nation’s third-largest Pay TV service, behind Charter and Comcast, seeing 11.1 percent of all TV use, and is the most-used virtual multiple video programming distributor or vMVPD, ahead of Fubo and Hulu + Live TV as YouTubeTV recently raised its price to $83 a month, up $10 from last year. Paramount is negotiating to be acquired by Skydance but may be held up by the FCC as Chairman Brendan Carr is investigating charges against CBS’ 60 Minutes over improperly presenting an interview with Kamala Harris.
The potential blackout comes just days after the NFL season came to a close, and some viewers either pause or drop their subscriptions. CBS is the most-watched network with a top-rated Thursday programming block with Survivor’s latest season on tap later this month, and the NCAA basketball tournament in March. Viewers who DVR programming from CBS and its related networks and access subscriptions from YouTubeTV and YouTube Primetime Channels such as Paramount Plus and BET+ won’t be able to access their content.
Watch this space for further updates.