{"id":327485,"date":"2025-10-23T21:50:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T21:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/327485\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T21:50:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T21:50:13","slug":"disney-warns-that-youtube-tv-could-drop-abc-espn-in-fee-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/327485\/","title":{"rendered":"Disney Warns That YouTube TV Could Drop ABC, ESPN in Fee Dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDisney<\/a> is alerting viewers that its networks including ABC<\/a> and ESPN<\/a> could go dark on Google\u2019s YouTube TV<\/a> as soon as next week, amid an impasse in deal-renewal talks.<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to Disney, it is continuing to negotiate with Google over a new YouTube TV deal but that the internet giant is using its market dominance to try to force the media company into a deal for below-market carriage fees. YouTube TV is the U.S.\u2019s largest internet-delivered pay-TV service, estimated to have more than 10 million subscribers.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe current Disney distribution deal for YouTube is set to expire Oct. 30 at midnight ET. The agreement covers local ABC broadcast stations, the suite of ESPN networks, ABC News, Disney Channel, Disney Jr., FX, FXX, FXM, NatGeo and Freeform. Disney plans to show on-screen scrolls on its networks about the potential YouTube TV blackout, along with messaging across social media platforms.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor its part, YouTube said that if Disney\u2019s networks are removed from YouTube TV for \u201can extended period of time\u201d it will extend subscribers a $20 credit.<\/p>\n

\n\tDisney\u2019s warning comes after YouTube TV has been engaged in four other distribution disputes so far this year alone. After contentious deal talks, YouTube TV\u00a0and\u00a0Paramount Global\u00a0(now Paramount Skydance) renewed their\u00a0agreement to carry CBS\u00a0stations nationwide and more than 20 other channels<\/a>\u00a0in February. Fox Corp. and YouTube TV reached a renewal<\/a> in August 2025 after a public back-and-forth, and NBCUniversal inked a long-term pact with Google earlier this month<\/a>. Meanwhile, YouTube TV dropped Univision and other TelevisaUnivision-owned networks<\/a> at the end of September after the two sides failed to reach a new agreement.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFor the fourth time in three months, Google\u2019s YouTube TV is putting their subscribers at risk of losing the most valuable networks they signed up for,\u201d a Disney spokesperson said in a statement to Variety. \u201cThis is the latest example of Google exploiting its position at the expense of their own customers. We invest significantly in our content and expect our partners to pay fair rates that recognize that value. If we don\u2019t reach a fair deal soon, YouTube TV customers will lose access to ESPN and ABC, and all our marquee programming \u2014 including the NFL, college football, NBA and NHL seasons \u2014 and so much more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA YouTube spokesperson said in a statement: \u201cWe\u2019ve been working in good faith to negotiate a deal with Disney that pays them fairly for their content on YouTube TV. Unfortunately, Disney is proposing costly economic terms that would raise prices on YouTube TV customers and give our customers fewer choices, while benefiting Disney\u2019s own live TV products \u2014 like Hulu + Live TV and, soon, Fubo. Without an agreement, we\u2019ll have to remove Disney\u2019s content from YouTube TV and if it remains unavailable for an extended period of time, we will offer subscribers a $20 credit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2023, Disney and Charter Communications had a public battle over a renewal, before the two sides resolved their differences<\/a> to avoid a blackout. In 2024, ESPN and other Disney nets went dark on DirecTV for nearly two weeks<\/a> before they reached a new deal. Earlier this month, Disney inked a renewal with Comcast for continued carriage of the Mouse House\u2019s networks. <\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to Disney, viewing of its networks in YouTube TV households is up by more than 15% year-over-year based on gross minutes viewed, citing Nielsen data.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s some bad blood between Disney and YouTube. Justin Connolly,\u00a0Disney\u2019s former head of distribution, joined YouTube<\/a> 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\u2019s knowledge of Disney as it pertained to contract renewal talks for YouTube TV. A California Superior Court judge ruled against Disney in the case<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tPictured above: ABC\u2019s \u201cAbbott Elementary\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Disney is alerting viewers that its networks including ABC and ESPN could go dark on Google\u2019s YouTube TV…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":327486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[8811,7299,171,5723,173,67,132,68,100250],"class_list":{"0":"post-327485","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-abc","9":"tag-disney","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-espn","12":"tag-tv","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us","16":"tag-youtube-tv"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115425694520332381","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}