Paramount and Comcast Xfinity Sign Major Carriage Deal to Avoid CBS Blackout

Paramount Global and Comcast

The agreement includes the continued carriage of Paramount’s portfolio of channels and apps on Xfinity platforms. Paramount owns CBS, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, MTV, BET and Paramount Network, among other offerings.

A Paramount spokesperson confirmed the new transportation deal for The Hollywood Reporter.

The previous agreement between the company was signed less than two years ago.

The deal is important as some New Year’s Eve NFL games and New Year’s Day college football games could have been affected if the companies had not reached an agreement. The NFL playoffs also begin early next month, and CBS will be hosting some big games.

Comcast is one of the two largest cable companies in the US through its Xfinity service (Charter Spectrum is the other), making the deal critical for Paramount. Comcast has more than 14 million video subscribers.

And the deal is also important because Paramount is effectively in the market through its majority shareholder National Amusements. Any potential buyer of the company will want to have transportation agreements in place so they can develop a strategy for its assets.

As streaming replaces traditional linear television, some cable companies are starting to reimagine their deals. Charter and its Spectrum service were in a lengthy transportation dispute with Disney earlier this year, forcing ESPN out of the lineup during the US Open. The two sides finally reached a deal before the NFL season, although it included big changes like the removal of some major channels and the addition of Disney+ to the package deal.