YouTube TV reaches carriage agreement with Paramount ahead of March Madness

A good chunk of college basketball fan’s national nightmare is over. There has been an agreement between YouTube TV and Paramount to carry the channels moving forward. Previously, people who used YouTube TV were in danger of not being able to watch March Madness on the streaming platform.

Luckily, the dispute appears to be over. Channels such as CBS, TNT, TBS, and truTV are going to be available through March.

“Members, we’re happy to share that we’ve reached a deal to continue carrying Paramount content on YouTube TV,” YouTube TV said via X. “That means you still have access to channels like CBS, CBS Sports, and Nickelodeon. Add-ons like Paramount+ with SHOWTIME and BET+ also remain uninterrupted.

“With this agreement, YouTube TV will continue to offer 100+ channels, while enabling more user choice in the future. Thank you again for your patience, and as always, we appreciate your membership.”

March Madness Selection Sunday is set for 6 p.m. ET on March 16. The actual NCAA Tournament will begin a few days later with the First Four on March 18-19. Fans watching on YouTube TV can all let out a sigh of relief, having access to all the needed channels.

More on the Paramount, YouTube TV dispute

In an internal memo obtained by Deadline, Paramount said Google – YouTube TV’s parent company – was unable to come to terms on a “reasonable” agreement. As a result, the channels would be dropped.

“Paramount has been negotiating a renewal agreement with Google to provide YouTube TV subscribers with continued access to their favorite premium content from BET, CBS, CBS Sports Network, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network and more,” the memo read. “Unfortunately, Google is unwilling to agree to reasonable terms consistent with the market, choosing to jeopardize the entertainment experience at the expense of consumers.

“As a result, tonight we will begin warning subscribers that Google may drop all Paramount channels, in addition to Paramount+ and BET+ from YouTube Primetime Channels, when our contract expires on February 13. … We remain hopeful that we can reach an agreement that fairly recognizes the full power of our brands and popular programming. Thank you to everyone for your hard work, support and dedication to our audiences and partners. We’ll update you as this situation develops in the coming days.”

In its statement to its more than 8 million customers, which was also posted to its blog, YouTube TV said it engaged in “good faith negotiations” with Paramount to keep the networks on its airwaves. It also offered users to claim an $8 credit if the channels were removed.

“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,” the company said. “Unfortunately, despite our good faith negotiations, we haven’t been successful yet. … Paramount is an important partner for us and as you can imagine, this is not the outcome that we want. We’re still in active conversations with Paramount and are hopeful we can come to an agreement to keep their content available on YouTube TV.”

On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this report