Update: As of 5:00 PM on Friday, November 21, NBCU channels have gone dark on Fubo. You can watch your favorite NBCU content on Peacock.
Will Fubo be the next live TV streaming service to lose a slate of channels due to a carriage dispute? Maybe.
CNBC Sports reporter Alex Sherman noted in his Thursday report about the YouTube TV and Disney dispute that Fubo and NBCUniversal also have a contract expiring at the the end of this month. That means that if the two are unable to reach an agreement to keep the channels on the platform, we could see another blackout.
NBCUniversal channels include local NBC affiliates, Telemundo, NBC Sports regional networks, CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo, and USA Network, among others.
YouTube TV avoided an NBC blackout by making a deal just before the deadline at the end of September. The following day, the two companies shared that they had come to a long-term agreement which included NBCUniversal’s full portfolio of broadcast and cable networks and added Peacock to YouTube Primetime Channels, allowing users to sign up and watch Peacock directly through the YouTube app. YouTube TV then had a much harder time making a deal with Disney, leading to a two-week blackout of ESPN, ABC, and a slate of other Disney-owned networks.
We’re still over a week away from the reported deadline for Fubo and NBC to agree to a continued carriage deal, and viewers typically don’t get warning messages on their screens until negotiations are down to the wire, so there’s a chance that the deal will be worked out with no issue. If that’s not the case, subscribers will want to find a different way to tune in to Sunday Night Football and other NBC content.
We reached out to Fubo for comment.