Consumers reliant on YouTube TV to view their favorite cable television channels from Paramount Global and most of the company’s CBS News and Stations properties across the nation’s largest markets could be in the dark come Friday morning.
That’s thanks to what is shaping up to be the latest retransmission consent impasse, this time involving a virtual MVPD and a big broadcasting company.
On its official blog, YouTube posted on Wednesday (2/12) that it has been “working hard to reach a fair agreement with Paramount that allows us to keep their channels, including CBS and CBS Sports, on YouTube TV without passing on additional costs to our subscribers. Unfortunately, despite our good faith negotiations, we haven’t been successful yet.”
This means that, unless a fresh carriage fee deal is reached by the end of Thursday, a large group of Paramount Global cable channels will be “blacked out”, by law, to YouTube TV subscribers in the absence of a fresh carriage deal.
YouTube TV customers will get an $8 credit off of their monthly bill; it is directing its subscribers to pay for Paramount+ at $7.99 per month to continue accessing the cable channels — a sign that there’s a lot of disagreement over the fair value Paramount has accessed on carriage and what YouTube TV essentially says is self-distribution of channels it wants to pocket more dollars for.
Some 24 cable TV channels are affected, including BET, Nickelodeon, CMT, MTV, Comedy Central and Paramount. Digital multicast networks Dabl and Comet TV could also be yanked.
All local TV stations owned by and or affiliated with CBS are affected, according to YouTube TV. Additionally, so are select siblings to CBS network O&Os in a handful of markets:
In response, CBS released a statement shared by Gray Media’s WDBJ-7 in Roanoke-Lynchburg on Thursday morning.
“Unfortunately, YouTube TV has yet to renew its contract to provide you with all your favorite CBS programs and your local CBS affiliate on its service,” the network said. “CBS is committed to an agreement that will benefit YouTube TV customers. We hope that YouTube TV will reconsider this avoidable disruption in service so that our viewers can continue to watch their favorite programming.”
When it comes to virtual MVPDs, Paramount Global handles the carriage agreements for all CBS stations, including its affiliates.
And, while WDBJ is not listed above, Gray Media’s local management in Roanoke was on the offensive. “CBS does not own WDBJ, so we aren’t involved in whatever negotiation is taking place between CBS and YouTube,” the station said. “In fact, we found out about this dispute just about the same time our viewers did. Regardless, to continue watching WDBJ, you might consider switching providers.”
WDBJ is directing any impacted consumers to the DIRECTV Stream and a “skinny bundle” via Comcast’s Xfinity service. A WDBJ staff member noted, “I know switching is a pain but many of our employees [including me] are YouTubeTV subscribers, and we are looking for other options.”
