Disney‘s networks including ESPN and ABC have gone dark on YouTube TV.
YouTube TV removed Disney’s networks as much as 30 minutes before the previous carriage deal expired at the stroke of midnight ET, after the two sides remain far apart on a deal renewal to keep ABC, ESPN and more on the internet TV service. The main sticking point is price — Disney is asking for rate hikes that Google isn’t willing to agree to.
YouTube TV said that if Disney’s channels remain unavailable for “an extended period of time,” it will offer subscribers a one-time $20 credit. YouTube TV’s base subscription plan costs $82.99/month. With the blackout, TV users nationwide will lose their local ABC stations, as well as ESPN sports programming including NFL, college football, NBA and NHL games.
Google said YouTube TV would begin pulling Disney-owned networks off its service beginning at 9 p.m. PT on Oct. 30/12 a.m. ET on Oct. 31. However, YouTube TV users on social media said they lost Disney programming even before the deadline. In addition to dropping the live networks, YouTube TV also is removing any DVR library recordings users have made from those networks.
Disney began alerting viewers on Oct. 23 about the carriage dispute with YouTube TV, pointing out that its networks could be removed from the pay-TV provider. YouTube TV is the biggest internet-TV service in the U.S., estimated to have more than 10 million subscribers. In second place is Disney, which just closed a deal to merge its Hulu + Live TV business with Fubo; together, those have almost 6 million subs in North America.
“Last week Disney used the threat of a blackout on YouTube TV as a negotiating tactic to force deal terms that would raise prices on our customers,” a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement. “They’re now following through on that threat, suspending their content on YouTube TV. This decision directly harms our subscribers while benefiting their own live TV products, including Hulu + Live TV and Fubo.”
The YouTube rep continued, “We know this is a frustrating and disappointing outcome for our subscribers and we continue to urge Disney to work with us constructively to reach a fair agreement that restores their networks to YouTube TV. If their content remains off YouTube TV for an extended period of time, we’ll offer subscribers a $20 credit.”
According to Disney, YouTube TV wants a better deal than anyone else in the market — including Comcast and Charter, which have more TV customers — and is unwilling to pay market rates for Disney’s networks or agree to terms that Disney has reached with other distributors, including it own Hulu + Live TV and Fubo services. In its negotiations with Google, Disney also has proposed new genre-based tiers and packaging flexibility to give YouTube TV customers more choices.
“Unfortunately, Google’s YouTube TV has chosen to deny their subscribers the content they value most by refusing to pay fair rates for our channels, including ESPN and ABC,” a Disney spokesperson said. “Without a new agreement in place, their subscribers will not have access to our programming, which includes the best lineup in live sports — anchored by the NFL, NBA, and college football, with 13 of the top 25 college teams playing this weekend.”
The Disney rep continued: “With a $3 trillion market cap, Google is using its market dominance to eliminate competition and undercut the industry-standard terms we’ve successfully negotiated with every other distributor. We know how frustrating this is for YouTube TV subscribers and remain committed to working toward a resolution as quickly as possible.”
Here’s the full list of networks being pulled from YouTube TV: ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews, Freeform, FX, FXX, FXM, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, SEC Network, Nat Geo, Nat Geo Wild, ABC News Live, ACC Network, Localish; on the Spanish plan, ESPN Deportes, Baby TV Español and Nat Geo Mundo.
Disney is the latest media conglomerate to lock horns with Google over YouTube TV this year. Others that have fought with the company include Paramount Global (now Paramount Skydance), Fox Corp. and NBCUniversal — each of which reached a new deal without a blackout. However, YouTube TV dropped Univision and other TelevisaUnivision-owned networks at the end of September after the two sides could not reach a new agreement.
In 2023, Disney and Charter had a public battle over a renewal, before the two sides resolved their differences to avoid a blackout. In 2024, ESPN and other Disney nets went dark on DirecTV for nearly two weeks before they reached a new deal. Earlier this month, Disney inked a carriage renewal pact with Comcast without any drama.
In December 2021, Disney and Google reached a carriage renewal after a two-day blackout. YouTube TV first launched in April 2017.
In another wrinkle to the current Disney/Google standoff, Justin Connolly, Disney’s former head of distribution, joined YouTube as VP of global head of media this spring. Disney sued YouTube and Connolly, alleging breach of contract and seeking to block his employment at Google, in part citing Connolly’s knowledge of Disney as it pertained to contract renewal talks for YouTube TV. After Disney lost a legal ruling in the case, the parties recently reached a settlement on the matter.
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