ESPN Personalities Grapple With Fallout Over YouTube TV Blackout

Is the ongoing carriage dispute between YouTube TV and Disney causing internal angst at ESPN? As the battle continues with no end in sight, some signs of stress are definitely appearing.

Pat McAfee, one of ESPN’s most prominent and most widely watched on-air talents, took direct aim at his network’s use of other major personalities, such as Stephen A. Smith, Mike Greenberg, and Scott Van Pelt, to direct people to a Disney website aimed at putting pressure on the Google-owned YouTube TV.

“If you’re on TV, stop telling people to go to a website to save a multibillion-dollar deal,” McAfee said on his eponymous show that he licenses to ESPN. “Nobody cares what you have to say. There will be nothing that we say, or any website that will be visited, that will get this thing [solved].”

McAfee has made a regular habit of skewering figures or strategies with ESPN, seemingly getting away with a level of “diva-like” behavior that few, if any, others involved with the network can. The ongoing dispute with YouTube TV, however, presents a notable new test to that maxim, as it has commanded the attention of the very highest levels of Disney leadership. 

As the blackout of Disney channels on the No. 4 pay-TV distributor began last Friday, ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro and Disney Entertainment co-chairs Dana Walden and Alan Bergman wrote a company-wide memo on the matter, saying of YouTube TV, “their actions make clear how little regard they have for their customers and are consistent with an attitude which has been prevalent throughout our negotiations.”

That sentiment, beyond core economic disagreements, signals just how far apart Disney and YouTube TV still are, and how this particular dispute could become an extended one.

Fan Blowback

Van Pelt, meanwhile, acknowledged last weekend in his college football reaction podcast that the fan reaction to his callouts about the YouTube TV situation has been severe.

“I tweet that out, and then eight million views later, everyone’s screaming ‘fuck you’ on my phone in my pocket at me,” Van Pelt said. “And I get it. I ignore it because I’m not in charge here. I can’t fix it. If I could flip a switch and make it so, I swear to you, I would, but I can’t.”

The ESPN stalwart, himself a YouTube TV subscriber, has had to block some of his 2 million followers on X/Twitter because of the vitriol.

“I don’t want to be the person you scream at because I can’t fix it,” Van Pelt said. “It’s business, never personal. It is personal, however, when you tell me ‘fuck you,’ like I did this to you. Because I didn’t. I just am hopeful, like you, that it gets sorted out, but I understand the frustration.”

ESPN declined comment Wednesday, except to point to its statement last week when the carriage dispute started, reading in part, “We know how frustrating this is for YouTube subscribers and remain committed to working toward a resolution as soon as possible.” 

The ongoing situation with YouTube TV, meanwhile, has begun to produce some attrition among its college football audiences. 

—Michael McCarthy and David Rumsey contributed to this article.