YouTube TV and Paramount are playing chicken with CBS stations

YouTube TV users may soon need to get their fix of Tracker, Matlock, Elsbeth, and other CBS shows elsewhere thanks to yet another carriage dispute. 

Subscribers to YouTube TV just got a warning that CBS, CBS Sports Network, Comedy Central, MTV, and other Paramount-owned stations will go dark after February 13—today—if the two sides fail to strike a deal before the deadline. 

“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 TV without passing on additional costs to our subscribers,” YouTube said in a blog post. “Unfortunately, despite our good faith negotiations, we haven’t been successful yet.” 

In a dueling blog post, Paramount argued that it had “made a series of offers to YouTube TV that are good for their customers,” and that YouTube was “attempting to pressure Paramount to agree to unfavorable and one-sided terms.” 

In other words, it’s another game of chicken between two media conglomerates over a carriage deal, and YouTube TV customers—who, don’t forget, just endured a price hike—are stuck in the crossfire. 

Among the stations that could go dark on YouTube TV include the CBS affiliates for 10 major metro areas, including New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Boston, and Dallas-Fort Worth. 

YouTube TV users could also see two dozen Paramount channels go dark, including Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, CBS Sports Network, CMT, and VH1. 

Besides losing those stations, YouTube TV users could be blocked from streaming any recordings of Paramount content in their DVR libraries. 

YouTube TV says it may offer users an $8 credit if it can’t reach a deal with Paramount for “an extended period of time.” That $8 credit would cover a month’s worth of Paramount+, which offers streams of local CBS stations as well as all the soon-to-be-blocked Paramount stations. 

These types of disputes are nothing new, of course, and they tend to roll around whenever a carriage agreement between a TV network and a cable and/or streaming provider is about to expire. 

Just four years ago, YouTube TV and Comcast mixed it up over NBCUniversal stations, with the latter coming close to yanking NBC and other TV channels from YouTube TV’s lineup. In that case, the two sides struck a deal with days to spare. 

It’s certainly possible that the latest YouTube TV-Paramount dispute will end with a similar last-minute reprieve, but watching the game of high-stakes poker isn’t much fun for YouTube TV subscribers, who are now paying $83 a month for the service’s base plan.