YouTube TV has announced that it has reached a “short-term extension” agreement with NBCUniversal so that it can continue offering its programs while they negotiate a new long-term deal. The service warned customers last week that its partnership with NBCUniversal was going to expire on September 30 and that they haven’t signed a new deal yet. It said at the time that NBC was asking the service “to pay more than what they charge consumers for the same content on Peacock, which would mean less flexibility and higher prices for [its own] subscribers.”
While YouTube TV was able to prevent the removal of NBC programs at the last minute, it wasn’t able to reach a similar deal with Univision, the largest Spanish-language broadcaster in the US. It sent out an email to customers, telling them that it has failed to reach an agreement with TelevisaUnivision that reflects the value of its content. “Unfortunately their current demands aren’t supported by their performance on YouTube TV over the last four years,” it said in the email. The broadcaster has “over 160 million subscribers and billions of views across YouTube,” a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement. However, it apparently “only represents a tiny fraction of overall consumption” on its TV subscription service.
In early September, TelevisaUnivision warned customers that Google was planning to remove its programs from YouTube TV’s standard package and to charge viewers an extra $15 to be able to access its network. The broadcaster called it the “Hispanic tax” and questioned Google’s ethics at “a time of economic uncertainty for many.” The broadcaster called YouTube TV’s actions “tone-deaf and egregious on the eve of a potential government shutdown” in a new statement regarding its network’s removal from the service. “To add insult to injury, YouTube TV chose to take this step during Hispanic Heritage Month — an act that is deeply insensitive and offensive,” it added.
