YouTube TV Gets Last-Minute Reprieve To Keep CBS, But March Madness Still Hangs In The Balance

Earlier this week, YouTube TV emailed all of its subscribers to let them know that Paramount channels would be going dark at midnight on February 13. This is due to a carriage dispute with Paramount. Essentially, Paramount wants more money out of YouTube TV, and YouTube TV wants to pay the same amount as its competitors of similar size. This happens quite often, though with YouTube TV, it’s usually a bit louder.

Last night, about an hour before the channels were set to go dark, YouTube TV announced that it had reached a short-term extension with Paramount to keep these channels on board. They have not said how long this extension is for, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a full deal agreed on between YouTube TV and Paramount before the end of the weekend.

This dispute comes at a terrible time, a month before March Madness

While YouTube TV doesn’t really get to choose when these carriage disputes happen, as they are contracts and they expire on a certain day based on when they were signed, this was still a terrible time to have a dispute with Paramount. You see, March Madness is set to start in under a month. Paramount owns CBS, which shows the majority of the March Madness games, including the Final Four and National Championship.

Though, this isn’t the first time for YouTube TV. They lost Disney’s channels just days before bowl season started. And ESPN hosts all but two bowl games, which Disney owns. So they seem to be making a habit out of this.

This also comes just a month after YouTube TV raised prices yet again, now costing subscribers $82.99 per month. And the kicker is, it’s not even the most expensive option. It’s actually on the cheaper side, for the number of channels they offer. Fubo and DIRECTV Stream are both more expensive.

YouTube TV has said that they will offer a $8 credit to its customers if they can’t get a deal with Paramount worked out. That is essentially the price of Paramount Plus.