YouTube TV recently struck a major deal to get access to many local channels around the United States. Recently it was announced that Sinclair the largest owner of over the air TV stations and YouTube TV struck a deal to carry all of Sinclair’s ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC affiliates as YouTube TV continues to roll out nationwide.
“We are excited to announce this agreement with YouTube TV which is quickly expanding to cover more cities across the country and includes popular local, network and sports programming,” said Barry Faber, executive vice president for distribution and network relations at Sinclair, in a statement. “We believe that our viewers want the ability to access content on any screen and having this relationship with YouTube will provide value to not only our viewers, but our advertising relationships as well. We appreciate that Google, the owner of YouTube TV, recognized the importance of carrying all of the local broadcast affiliates in their effort to attract subscribers to this new service.”
Currently, Sinclair owns 173 TV stations across the United States (soon to be 233 after their purchase of Tribune is completed) in over 100 markets. Sinclair has also been a very cord cutting friendly company. Sinclair currently streams their sub-channels like Comet, Charge!, and TBD free online as well as striking deals with services like DIRECTV NOW and PlayStation Vue.
“Expanding distribution on these new platforms together with our affiliates has been a part of CBS’ long-term digital strategy, and I am very proud we have reached this agreement with our affiliate board,” said Ray Hopkins, president of television networks distribution at CBS, in a statement. “No broadcaster has made preserving the network-affiliate model a core tenet of their strategy like CBS. We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with our affiliates, and as these new forms of distribution continue to grow, including CBS All Access, so will our revenue together.”
Sinclair said they also expect YouTube TV to carry their MyNetwork TV and The CW affiliates they own.
Source: FierceCable