YouTube TV and Disney have reached a deal that will restore ESPN, ABC and other channels to the platform\u2019s 10 million subscribers after nearly a two-week hiatus,\u00a0the companies announced Friday night.<\/p>\n
The deal will give YouTube TV subscribers access to ESPN\u2019s new direct-to-consumer \u201cUnlimited\u201d service at no additional cost, as part of YouTube TV\u2019s base plan. That is most notable for WWE fans, as WWE\u2019s major events \u2014 including Wrestlemania \u2014 are now part of ESPN\u2019s Unlimited offering. YouTube TV subscribers pay a little more than $80 per month for the base plan. The roll-out will be completed by the end of 2026.<\/p>\n
All of Disney\u2019s channels will remain on YouTube TV\u2019s service, led by ABC, and all other of ESPN\u2019s other networks. Freeform, the FX networks, National Geographic channels and other lesser-watched channels were a point of contention during negotiations, but will continue as part of the agreement.<\/p>\n
In a statement, YouTube TV said, \u201cWe\u2019re happy to share that we\u2019ve reached an agreement with Disney that preserves the value of our service for our subscribers and future flexibility in our offers. Subscribers should see channels including ABC, ESPN and FX returning to their service over the course of the day, as well as any recordings that were previously in their Library. We apologize for the disruption and appreciate our subscribers\u2019 patience as we negotiated on their behalf.\u201d<\/p>\n
Disney Entertainment co-chairmen Alan Bergman ad Dana Walden and ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said, \u201cThis new agreement reflects our continued commitment to delivering exceptional entertainment and evolving with how audiences choose to watch. It recognizes the tremendous value of Disney\u2019s programming and provides YouTube TV subscribers with more flexibility and choice. We are pleased that our networks have been restored in time for fans to enjoy the many great programming options this weekend, including college football.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since Oct. 30th, encompassing two weekends and Monday nights, YouTube TV subscribers have gone without ESPN\u2019s expansive college football slate of games and \u201cMonday Night Football,\u201d which featured a stellar matchup of the Philadelphia Eagles at the Green Bay Packers this week.<\/p>\n
Disney\u2019s quarterly earnings call with Wall Street analysts Thursday morning served as a pseudo \u2014 but not absolute \u2014 deadline to force some movement in the negotiations. The Athletic reported Wednesday that there was potential renewed momentum, though the two sides were still haggling over how to treat Disney\u2019s lesser-watched networks, like Freeform and National Geographic, as part of an agreement.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday night, major progress was made, putting the deal in the red zone, but was not completed in time for Disney CEO Bob Iger to make an announcement during his call with analysts.<\/p>\n
YouTube TV is on the rise as the cable-like platform with the third-most subscribers. Its 10 million subscribers are just below Spectrum and Comcast, which are in the 12 million range, with industry expectations that YouTube TV has the potential to eclipse the cable giants over the remainder of the decade. YouTube TV started in 2018 as a $35-per-month offering and has built its subscriber base, in large part, around live-sports viewing, making ESPN and its networks an essential partner.<\/p>\n
In a sign that the negotiations were becoming even more serious, sources briefed on the talks said that Sundar Pichai, Google\u2019s CEO, and Disney CEO Bob Iger had become more involved in recent days. Disney\u2019s negotiation team has been led by its Entertainment co-chairs Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, along with ESPN chair Jimmy Pitaro.<\/p>\n
YouTube TV\u2019s global head of media and sports, Justin Connolly, had been forced to recuse himself from the negotiations. Connolly switched sides earlier this year, leaving Disney for YouTube TV, which resulted in lawsuits. Connolly, who was making $6 million a year, was finally allowed to break his Disney deal to join YouTube TV, but he was forced to sit out the talks. Connolly\u2019s team was handling the talks and was said to be locked in with Walden, Bergman and Pitaro\u2019s group Wednesday night as the two sides closed in on the agreement.<\/p>\n
This past Sunday, YouTube TV sent out emails to customers, informing them they could click a button on their account page to redeem a $20 credit for being without ESPN and the Disney channels for more than a week.<\/p>\n
On Monday, FCC chairman Brendan Carr, on his X account, wrote, \u201cGoogle and Disney need to get a deal done and end this blackout. People should have the right to watch the programming they paid for \u2014 including football. Get it done!\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, the two sides have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"YouTube TV and Disney have reached a deal that will restore ESPN, ABC and other channels to the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":379612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[64,1428,1385,1266,1260,1232,293,5468,222,67,132,68,232,3522],"class_list":{"0":"post-379611","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-college-football","10":"tag-mens-college-basketball","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-nwsl","16":"tag-sports-business","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-wnba","21":"tag-womens-college-basketball"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115551118673740503","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379611","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=379611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}