YouTube TV Blackout of ABC, ESPN, Disney Networks in Deal Dispute

Disney‘s networks including ESPN and ABC have gone darkish on YouTube TV.

YouTube TV eliminated Disney’s networks as a lot as half-hour before the earlier carriage deal expired at the stroke of midnight ET, after the two sides stay far aside on a deal renewal to maintain ABC, ESPN and more on the web TV service. The main sticking point is value — Disney is asking for fee hikes that Google isn’t keen to comply with.

YouTube TV said that if Disney’s channels stay unavailable for “an extended period of time,” it would provide subscribers a one-time $20 credit score. YouTube TV’s base subscription plan prices $82.99/month. With the blackout, TV customers nationwide will lose their local ABC stations, in addition to ESPN sports activities programming including NFL, school soccer, NBA and NHL games.

Google said YouTube TV would start pulling Disney-owned networks off its service starting at 9 p.m. PT on Oct. 30/12 a.m. ET on Oct. 31. However, YouTube TV customers on social media said they misplaced Disney programming even before the deadline. In addition to dropping the live networks, YouTube TV also is eradicating any DVR library recordings customers have made from those networks.

Disney started alerting viewers on Oct. 23 about the carriage dispute with YouTube TV, pointing out that its networks could possibly be faraway from the pay-TV supplier. YouTube TV is the greatest 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 enterprise with Fubo; together, those have nearly 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 press release. “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 needs a better deal than anybody else in the market — including Comcast and Charter, which have more TV prospects — and is unwilling to pay market charges for Disney’s networks or comply with phrases that Disney has reached with other distributors, including it personal Hulu + Live TV and Fubo companies. In its negotiations with Google, Disney also has proposed new genre-based tiers and packaging flexibility to provide YouTube TV prospects more selections.

“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 checklist 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 yr. Others that have fought with the company embody 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 couldn’t attain a new settlement.

In 2023, Disney and Charter had a public battle over a renewal, before the two sides resolved their variations to keep away from a blackout. In 2024, ESPN and other Disney nets went darkish on DirecTV for almost 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 searching for to dam his employment at Google, in half citing Connolly’s data of Disney because it pertained to contract renewal talks for YouTube TV. After Disney misplaced a authorized ruling in the case, the events just lately reached a settlement on the matter.

Pictured top: ABC’s “High Potential” starring Kaitlin Olson and Daniel Sunjata