Paramount Global and YouTube TV have reached a carriage renewal, averting the blackout of 23 networks including CBS, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon.
The companies announced the multi-year deal Saturday night. The agreement includes the inclusion of Paramount+ With Showtime as well as BET+ on YouTube’s channel store and also allowing YouTube TV to offer Paramount+ in forthcoming packages.
“With this agreement, YouTube TV will continue to offer 100+ channels and add-ons including Paramount+ and will enable more user choice in the future,” a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement provided to Deadline. “To our subscribers, we appreciate your patience while we negotiated on your behalf.”
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A Paramount spokesperson expressed similar sentiments in a statement. “We are pleased to announce a renewed Paramount-Google agreement,” the statement said., “We look forward to extending our long-standing partnership and giving audiences greater access to their favorite programming.”
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The companies had agreed to a short-term extension of their current contract on Thursday night, announcing it just minutes before the scheduled expiration at midnight ET.
With more than 8 million subscribers, the YouTube TV has grown into one of the largest pay-TV operators in the U.S. just eight years after its launch.
For Paramount, the showdown came during somewhat of a programming lull. After broadcasting the Grammys, the Golden Globes and several highly rated NFL playoff games in recent weeks, CBS will have its next wide-audience draws in March and April with the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and The Masters. The Paramount Network concluded the Season 5 run of Yellowstone in December.
Even though the networks didn’t have their top-tier programming airing in February, though, they deliver significant tonnage in the overall pay-TV ecosystem. CBS is still the most-watched broadcast network, Nickelodeon remains a steady draw with families, and Comedy Central has seen a revival of viewership for The Daily Show after the 2024 election and the return of Jon Stewart as a once-a-week host.
On the corporate front, the timing of the showdown has not been ideal for Paramount, whose pending $8 billion merger with Skydance Media has been waylaid by complaints about CBS News by President Donald Trump. Already in something of a limbo state as the deal gets resolved, the company could ill afford to lose carriage on a major pay-TV provider.
Carriage fights have long been common in the pay-TV era as parties have haggled over financial terms, but they have taken on more complexity and urgency in the era of cord-cutting and streaming adoption. Charter Communications, the No. 1 pay-TV operator in the U.S. memorably clashed with Disney in 2023, leading to a 10-day blackout and a novel agreement including streaming distribution but also ending carriage for major cable channels like Freeform. Satellite operator DirecTV also battled with Disney last summer.