{"id":344827,"date":"2025-10-31T05:13:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T05:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/344827\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T05:13:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T05:13:09","slug":"youtube-tv-blackout-of-abc-espn-disney-networks-in-deal-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/344827\/","title":{"rendered":"YouTube TV Blackout of ABC, ESPN, Disney Networks in Deal Dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDisney<\/a>\u2018s networks including ESPN and ABC have gone dark on YouTube TV<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tYouTube TV removed Disney\u2019s 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 \u2014 Disney is asking for rate hikes that Google<\/a> isn\u2019t willing to agree to.<\/p>\n

\n\tYouTube TV said that if Disney\u2019s channels remain unavailable for \u201can extended period of time,\u201d it will offer subscribers a one-time $20 credit. YouTube TV\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tGoogle 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tDisney began alerting viewers on Oct. 23 about the carriage dispute with YouTube TV<\/a>, 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<\/a>; together, those have almost 6 million subs in North America. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLast 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,\u201d a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement. \u201cThey\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe YouTube rep continued, \u201cWe 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\u2019ll offer subscribers a $20 credit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn its negotiations with Disney, Google has proposed new genre-based tiers and packaging flexibility to give YouTube TV customers more choices. Disney claims it\u2019s amenable to the idea; however, the two sides haven\u2019t found common ground on this point either.<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to Disney, YouTube TV wants a better deal than anyone else in the market \u2014 including Comcast and Charter, which have more TV customers \u2014 and is unwilling to pay market rates for Disney\u2019s networks or agree to terms that Disney has reached with other distributors, including it own Hulu + Live TV and Fubo services.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cUnfortunately, Google\u2019s 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,\u201d a Disney spokesperson said. \u201cWithout a new agreement in place, their subscribers will not have access to our programming, which includes the best lineup in live sports \u2014 anchored by the NFL, NBA, and college football, with 13 of the top 25 college teams playing this weekend.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Disney rep continued: \u201cWith a $3 trillion market cap, Google is using its market dominance to eliminate competition and undercut the industry-standard terms we\u2019ve 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHere\u2019s 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 Espa\u00f1ol and Nat Geo Mundo.<\/p>\n

\n\tDisney 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\u00a0(now Paramount Skydance)<\/a>, Fox Corp.<\/a> and\u00a0NBCUniversal<\/a> \u2014 each of which reached a new deal without a blackout. However, YouTube TV dropped Univision and other TelevisaUnivision-owned networks<\/a>\u00a0at the end of September after the two sides could not reach a new agreement.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2023, Disney and Charter had a public battle over a renewal, before\u00a0the two sides resolved their differences<\/a>\u00a0to avoid a blackout. In 2024,\u00a0ESPN and other Disney nets went dark on DirecTV for nearly two weeks<\/a>\u00a0before they reached a new deal. Earlier this month, Disney inked a carriage renewal pact with Comcast without any drama.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn December 2021, Disney\u00a0and\u00a0Google\u00a0reached a carriage renewal<\/a> after a two-day blackout. YouTube TV first launched in April 2017<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn another wrinkle to the current Disney\/Google standoff, Justin Connolly,\u00a0Disney\u2019s former head of distribution, joined YouTube<\/a>\u00a0as 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. After Disney lost a legal ruling in the case<\/a>, the parties recently reached a settlement on the matter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tPictured top: ABC\u2019s \u201cHigh Potential\u201d starring Kaitlin Olson and Daniel Sunjata<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Disney\u2018s networks including ESPN and ABC have gone dark on YouTube TV. YouTube TV removed Disney\u2019s networks as…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":344828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[64,7299,2722,67,132,68,100250],"class_list":{"0":"post-344827","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-disney","10":"tag-google","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us","14":"tag-youtube-tv"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115467073490261439","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344827","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=344827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}