Comcast Corporation and Paramount Global have renewed a distribution agreement that will keep Paramount-owned TV stations and cable networks on Comcast’s Xfinity TV systems for a few more years.
The agreement announced on Tuesday will also allow Comcast’s Xfinity TV and Xfinity Internet subscribers to access Paramount-owned streaming services like Paramount Plus with Showtime, BET Plus and Pluto TV through their set-top boxes.
Comcast also has the right to offer Paramount Plus with Showtime to “qualifying” Xfinity customers in the future, mirroring a similar distribution agreement Paramount reached with Charter, which offers Paramount Plus Essentials to Spectrum TV customers. So far, Comcast has not announced plans to offer Paramount Plus Essentials or Paramount Plus with Showtime to their Xfinity TV or Xfinity Internet subscribers as part of their service.
“We are pleased to renew and expand upon our broad partnership with Comcast,” Ray Hopkins, the President of Distribution at Paramount, said on Tuesday. “This new deal ensures that our dynamic portfolio of popular brands and premium programming continue to reach and entertain our valued audiences everywhere.”
Paramount-owned networks that will remain on Comcast’s pay TV service include Paramount Network, MTV, BET, VH1, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, CBS Sports Network, Pop TV and Smithsonian Network. It also includes renewed distribution of CBS-owned local TV stations in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Detroit, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Sacramento, San Francisco, Seattle and Tampa, a Comcast spokesperson confirmed to The Desk.
“Paramount Global is a valued partner, and we are excited to continue providing Xfinity customers with access to their traditional and streaming content across our industry-leading entertainment platforms,” said John Dixon, Senior Vice President, Entertainment, Comcast Cable. “This agreement gives us the ability to offer customers more choice and flexibility in what they want to watch and how they want to watch it.”
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
