Some fuboTV subscribers may see a change to their CBS channel on Monday. According to a new report, some CBS local affiliates have opted out of a new carriage deal with Paramount. In areas affected by the opt-outs, subscribers will lose access to their local CBS station.
At the moment, it remains unclear who and where will be affected by the change. The news comes from a new report by Broadcasting+Cable citing a confidential memo distributed by the CBS affiliate board. The memo reportedly confirms the deadline for stations to opt in was set for 5 p.m. Friday.
With that deadline having now passed, the expectation is that fuboTV subscribers in areas where stations have opted out will lose access to their local CBS station on Monday at 5 p.m.
While not great news in general, a workaround is reportedly being readied. Essentially, Paramount Global will provide fuboTV subscribers with access to the national CBS feed in affected areas. While this will help to some degree, there are differences between the national and local feeds. Most notably, access to local programming including local live sports.
Again, it currently remains to be seen which areas are potentially going to be affected by this change, although that information should become clear by Monday evening when the cutoff deadline is reached. At which point the local CBS feed will be replaced with the network feed in affected areas.
While Paramount has the ability to negotiate on behalf of all CBS affiliates, those affiliates also have the ability to opt out of any proposed deal. It would seem some of the local CBS affiliates are unhappy with the current proposal, with the memo alleging Paramount’s attempt to exert too much control over the retransmission of affiliate stations on vMVPDs including fubo.
The memo also reportedly explains that any stations that do opt out will still have the opportunity to negotiate with fuboTV directly. Not to mention, affected CBS affiliates still have the ability to opt in before the Monday cutoff deadline. As a result, it is still possible for some to change their mind and avoid any disruption to local fuboTV subscribers.
For reference, local news may be far less impacted by this change than local sports as it is understood that the national feed will pull from the CBS News Streaming Network to provide affected areas with local newscasts.
