YouTube TV Loses ESPN, ABC Just Before Big Sports Weekend

After reaching carriage deals with Fox and NBCUniversal, YouTube TV failed to do the same with Disney, and a series of channels, including ESPN and ABC, are now dark on the No. 4 U.S. pay-TV distributor. 

Amid an already tense negotiation that’s grown progressively worse in recent weeks, more than 20 Disney channels were pulled at midnight on Friday, and the current dispute arrives in the midst of a particularly crowded point of the sports calendar. 

Core of the Dispute

Like many other distribution battles, the Disney–YouTube TV conflict centers mostly on carriage fees, though larger structural issues, such as how Disney’s Hulu interacts with YouTube TV, are also at play. As programming costs continue to rise, the ability of Google-owned YouTube TV to present itself as a low-cost alternative to traditional cable and satellite TV—a core part of its original business model—becomes more challenged.

“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,” YouTube TV said late Thursday in a statement. “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.”

In its own statement, ESPN lamented the loss of key upcoming sports coverage on YouTube TV, “anchored” by the NFL, NBA, and a college football slate this weekend that includes 13 of the 25 top-ranked teams on its networks. 

“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,” ESPN said. “We know how frustrating this is for YouTube TV subscribers and remain committed to working toward a resolution as quickly as possible.”

Before the expiration of the prior pact, ESPN had increasingly used top on-air talent such as Stephen A. Smith, Mike Greenberg, and Scott Van Pelt to alert viewers of a potential blackout.

In a company memo sent Friday to Disney employees, the company’s leadership continued its criticism of YouTube TV and Google.

“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—YouTube TV and its owner, Google, are not interested in achieving a fair deal with us,” wrote ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro and Disney Entertainment co-chairs Dana Walden and Alan Bergman. “Instead, they want to use their power and extraordinary resources to eliminate competition and devalue the very content that helped them build their service.”

Deal Points

There have been negotiations between the two sides about creating more genre-specific packages, including in sports, similar to the more flexible offerings that Disney has developed with other distributors. Nothing definitive has emerged there, however.

YouTube TV reiterated that if the Disney channels remain dark for an “extended period of time,” it will offer subscribers a $20 credit. A similar situation is unfolding with Spanish-language TelevisaUnivision, which has also been dark on YouTube TV since Sept. 30. 

Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr has publicly remained on the sidelines of the YouTube TV–Disney dispute, perhaps surprisingly after he weighed in on several others. 

The YouTube TV situation is also happening in an otherwise busy week for Disney, including the closing of its acquisition of majority control of Fubo and a separate settlement with YouTube regarding executive Justin Connolly. Connolly has reportedly recused himself from the Disney–YouTube TV carriage talks. Fubo, meanwhile, will now be merged with Hulu + Live TV.