YouTube TV will drop Disney-owned programming such as ABC, ESPN and more after failing to reach a new carriage agreement with the media giant, TheWrap has learned.
Disney began warning YouTube TV subscribers about the possibility of a programming blackout last week. In a statement on Thursday evening, a Disney spokesperson told TheWrap that Google and YouTube TV have “chosen to deny their subscribers the content they value most by refusing to pay fair rates for our channels,” including the NFL, NBA, and college football, with 13 of the top 25 college teams playing this weekend.
“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,” the spokesperson added. “We know how frustrating this is for YouTube TV subscribers and remain committed to working toward a resolution as quickly as possible.”
But in their own Thursday evening statement, a YouTube TV spokesperson told TheWrap that Disney used the threat of a blackout as a negotiating tactic to “force deal terms that would raise prices on our customers” and rejected offers to keep their networks on the platform.
They added that Disney’s proposals “fundamentally disadvantage” YouTube TV, while “preserving preferential terms and content” for their own services and that they asked for economics that would “significantly raise costs” on subscribers and rates that would hinder its ability to compete with other distributors.
“This decision directly harms our subscribers while benefiting their own live TV products, including Hulu + Live TV and Fubo,” the spokesperson added. “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.”
YouTube TV will offer subscribers a $20 credit if Disney content remains off the platform for an extended period of time.
The latest carriage dispute comes after Disney resolved a 13-day programming blackout with DirecTV in September 2024, a 10-day dispute with Charter Communications in 2023 and a 48-hour dispute with Dish in 2022, while YouTube TV recently reached agreements with Fox and NBCUniversal.
It also comes just days after the two sides settled a lawsuit over YouTube TV’s hiring of former Disney platform distribution president Justin Connolly, who previously led the company’s carriage negotiations.
The settlement came after Disney’s request to block YouTube’s hiring of Connolly was denied by a judge due to “lack of showing of emergency” and the “balance of harms” working in favor of Connolly. They also said Disney had “not demonstrated a probability of success on the merits.” Following the decision, Disney said it would continue to pursue its legal remedies.
In addition to Disney, YouTube TV has yet to reach a deal with TelevisaUnivision, whose programming has been dark on the platform since Sept. 30. President Donald Trump has weighed in on the latter dispute, urging YouTube TV to restore the Spanish-language network’s programming.
With over 8 million subscribers, YouTube TV is one of the largest pay TV operators alongside Charter Communications, Comcast and DirecTV. It is the largest virtual multichannel video programming distributor (vMVPD).
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