If YouTubeTV Doesn't Figure It Out, Customers Will Be Cooked for March Madness

When rich TV executives get into disputes, the cost is passed down to the customer. More specifically, the college basketball customer. March Madness is in jeopardy thanks to a fight between YouTubeTV and Paramount.

I was one of the millions of YouTubeTV subscribers who received an email late Thursday night. Here’s the meat and potatoes from the message:

“We’ve been negotiating with Paramount to reach a fair agreement that allows us to keep their channels, including CBS, on YouTube TV without compromising the value of our service. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we’ve been unable to reach an agreement. 

“On February 13, 2025, all Paramount channels will likely become unavailable on YouTube TV. If this happens, this will impact previous Library recordings from these channels, Paramount content in the Entertainment Plus package, and add-on services like Paramount+ with SHOWTIME and BET+. Should Paramount content become unavailable, we will continue to update our Help Center with the latest.”

Typically, this stuff goes in one ear and out the other. “Paramount, who’s watching Paramount right now? I don’t need anymore Rob Dyrdek or Taylor Sheridan.” They snuck two little words in that message that stopped me in my tracks, “including CBS.”

If YouTubeTV and Paramount don’t figure this out in a month, we are screwed.

The whole point of purchasing YouTubeTV is for that beautiful March Madness multiview. You can’t do that if YouTubeTV doesn’t have access to CBS. Imagine turning on your television on Selection Sunday, and you can’t see the bracket reveal??!?!?! Speaking of bracket reveals, if this situation isn’t resolved ASAP, YouTubeTV customers will not be able to watch the early bracket reveal Saturday afternoon.

It’s Not All Bad News for YouTubeTV Customers

Here’s the thing about these contract disputes: they almost always get resolved in time. There was one big exception. Last fall, DirecTV customers did not have access to ESPN channels during the second week of the college football season. Eventually, the two sides wised up in time for services to be restored ahead of week three.

Even if this dispute is another exception to the norm and causes a prolonged loss of service, YouTubeTV said it’s willing to deduct $8 a month from its monthly bill to cover the cost of a Paramount+ subscription. It’s not ideal, but it could be worse.

There’s one other thing to consider for March Madness. CBS is one of four channels that airs NCAA Tournament games. The other three — TNT, TBS, and TruTV — are all Turner stations owned by Warner Bros. If there’s a loss of service, you’ll still have access to those three channels. Nevertheless, you’d still be missing the biggest games on the biggest station and that’s unacceptable.

There are 31 days till Selection Sunday. YouTubeTV and Paramount are officially on the clock.