NBCUniversal and YouTube TV agreed to extend their current deal for the short term, keeping NBC, NBC Sports and other company content on the Google-owned streaming platform.
The deadline to reach a new deal was 9 p.m. PDT on Tuesday; if the two sides had not extended their previous deal, NBC’s various channels would have been taken off of YouTube TV.
“We’ve reached a short-term extension to avoid disruption to our service while we work toward a new agreement with NBCUniversal. We appreciate our subscribers’ patience while we negotiate on their behalf,” YouTube said in a statement on its website.
Other channels, however, are now off YouTube TV. Univision and other channels owned by parent company TelevisaUnivision are off the streaming service after TelevisaUnivision and YouTube failed to reach an agreement Tuesday.
YouTube told subscribers that if Univision and other channels stayed off the platform for an extended period, customers with the “Spanish Base” plan would be given a credit or refund worth $6, according to Variety.
“TelevisaUnivision has over 160 million subscribers and billions of views across YouTube, where they generate ad revenue from their content. On our paid live TV subscription service, YouTube TV, however, TelevisaUnivision only represents a tiny fraction of overall consumption,” a YouTube spokesperson said, according to Variety.
TelevisaUnivision said that YouTube parent company Google was being discriminatory by removing the Spanish-language TV company’s content from YouTube TV.
Google, TelevisaUnivision contends, stripped “millions of Hispanic viewers of the Spanish-language news, sports, and entertainment they rely on every day.”
TelevisaUnivision also said in a release that “to add insult to injury, YouTube TV chose to take this step during Hispanic Heritage Month—an act that is deeply insensitive and offensive.”
Washington-area sports fans are also affected by content changes on YouTube TV.
Monumental Sports Network, which is owned by Ted Leonsis and broadcasts the games of the teams he owns — mainly the NHL’s Washington Capitals and NBA’s Washington Wizards — was dropped by both YouTube TV and competitor platform Hulu + Live TV after the network failed to reach agreements with both platforms Tuesday.
“We offered — and will continue to offer — both YouTube TV and Hulu numerous fair deals filled with economic concessions to keep our programming accessible, but despite public statements made, neither platform meaningfully engaged nor responded to our proposals,” the network said in a statement on a separate “Keep Monumental Sports” website.
In the interim, Monumental Sports Network recommends that Washington-area fans switch to a different provider, including satellite and cable TV, or sign up for the network’s own direct-to-consumer streaming service Monumental+.
A YouTube spokesperson told Axios that “we know how important live sports are to YouTube TV subscribers, but we will not ask them to pay more to continue carrying a channel that very few of them actually watch.”
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.