Some 'Yellowstone' Fans Think They've Figured Out the Reason for the Season 4 Delay

Some 'Yellowstone' Fans Think They've Figured Out the Reason for the Season 4 Delay


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Yellowstone fans are growing increasingly impatient for news of the season 4 release date for the popular cable TV show. Many viewers held out hope that the show would return on June 20, following the pattern set by the first three seasons, but that did not pan out. Paramount Network has not given any updates on when the new season will air, and they have not released a trailer. Some fans have done some investigating on their own, determining that perhaps the Olympics are to blame and the show will return later in August.

Now, some are speculating that a dispute over streaming rights is the reason for the delay. Yellowstone airs on Paramount Network, a unit of ViacomCBS, but seasons 1, 2, and 3 are available for streaming only on Peacock, the NBCUniversal streaming service, rather than Paramount +, the new Paramount streaming service.

When the official Yellowstone account posted a video on June 29 with the caption: "The world doesn't value John Dutton's way of life," many viewers posted comments asking for season 4 news. And that's where one addressed the potential streaming issue. "Would you please settle the d--n dispute between CBS Paramount Plus and NBC Peacock Streaming and release the d--n season! Y'all can fight over streaming rights later. "

And then, a video was posted on Instagram on June 30, where Yellowstone promoted a 4th of July weekend marathon: "Bring the heat this 4th of July weekend with an explosive three-season binge! The #YellowstoneTV marathon starts Saturday at 12pm ET, only on @paramountnetwork."

Among the comments was another assumption about streaming. "Hurry up with the dispute over who is going to stream the show and just give us a CORRECT release date."

It's not uncommon for a network to license the streaming rights for a TV show to another service. According to CNet, "ViacomCBS has said its strategy is 'evolving' about how much of its own programming it should license to itself. When you grant your own programming to your own service, you forsake piles of money you could haul in if you'd licensed it to someone else instead." But with the addition of two new Yellowstone spinoffs, Y:1883 and 6666, both airing on Paramount+, some viewers think it's possible that Paramount will want to keep all of the shows in one place.

However, it remains to be seen if there's any truth to these rumors. We might as well catch that 4th of July marathon while we wait for more news!

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