ViacomCBS has struck a multi-year deal with YouTube TV that will result in a selection of additional channels being added to the live TV streaming service in the future.
YouTube TV is clearly one of the live TV streaming services in ascendance. At last count, YouTube TV was understood to have surpassed the two million subscriber mark and that’s only likely to go up in the future, following the latest distribution agreement with ViacomCBS.
Along with the release of its first quarter results for 2020, ViacomCBS announced the new agreement. In total, ViacomCBS confirmed fourteen new channels are being added to YouTube TV’s channel lineup. Although, they are not all arriving now, or even at the same time.
Instead, ViacomCBS confirmed that eight of the fourteen channels will be added to YouTube TV in the summer with the rest launching “at a later date.”
ViacomCBS channels coming to YouTube TV in the summer:
- BET
- CMT
- Comedy Central
- MTV
- Nickelodeon
- Paramount Network
- TV Land
- VH1
ViacomCBS channels coming to YouTube TV at a later date:
- BET Her
- MTV2
- Nick Jr
- NickToons
- TeenNick
- MTV Classic
YouTube TV adding more value, but at a price?
While ViacomCBS networks and brands might not be for everyone, they do enjoy an extremely healthy user base and that’s good news for YouTube TV. In fact, many of these same channels have routinely been the result of disputes over carriage agreements with other live TV streaming services.
While many of those disputes have since been resolved, today’s multi-year agreement ensures that anyone who’s particularly interested in accessing these channels will have another option to do so, and through one of the fastest-growing live TV streaming services.
The big question here is whether this will result in a price increase for YouTube TV. In the past, the service has attempted to keep prices low and currently charges $49.99 per month for access.
Considering YouTube TV does not offer any additional tiers, this does mean if a price increase lands, it affects all subscribers equally. While the addition of new channels doesn’t necessarily guarantee a price increase, that’s what happened the last time the service bulk added new channels, including many owned by Discovery.
Besides the YouTube TV announcement, ViacomCBS also today confirmed that its Pluto TV service reached 24 millions subscribers at the close of the first quarter, bringing it one step closer to its 30 million year’s end goal. Unlike YouTube TV, Pluto TV is a free service.
Source: ViacomCBS
