{"id":292335,"date":"2025-11-15T02:34:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T02:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/292335\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T02:34:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T02:34:08","slug":"youtube-tv-and-disney-reach-deal-ending-two-week-blackout-of-espn-abc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/292335\/","title":{"rendered":"YouTube TV and Disney Reach Deal Ending Two-Week Blackout of ESPN, ABC"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tESPN<\/a>, ABC and other Disney<\/a> TV networks are coming back to YouTube TV<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\n\tGoogle<\/a> and Disney finally ended their standoff, announcing a multiyear agreement Friday on pricing and terms for a renewed carriage deal for YouTube TV. Disney\u2019s nets went dark on the internet TV service just before midnight ET on Thursday, Oct. 30<\/a>, after the two sides remained far apart on a deal before the expiration of the previous contract.<\/p>\n

\n\tUnder the new agreement, ESPN\u2019s full lineup of sports \u2014 including content from ESPN Unlimited \u2014 will be made available on YouTube TV to base-plan subscribers at no additional cost by the end of 2026. In addition, access to a selection of live and on-demand programming from ESPN Unlimited will be available inside YouTube TV.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe deal also lets YouTube include the Disney+ and Hulu bundle as part of \u201cselect YouTube offerings.\u201d According to Disney, \u201cselect networks\u201d will be included in various genre-specific packages that YouTube TV expects to launch in the future. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis new agreement reflects our continued commitment to delivering exceptional entertainment and evolving with how audiences choose to watch,\u2019\u2019 Disney Entertainment co-chairmen Alan Bergman and Dana Walden and ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a joint statement. \u201cIt 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

\n\tIn a statement, a YouTube spokesperson said Friday, \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

\n\tThe deal supersedes their prior distribution agreement, inked in December 2021 after a two-day blackout<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Sunday (Nov. 9) YouTube began issuing one-time $20 credits to YouTube TV customers for the loss of Disney\u2019s programming<\/a>, in the hopes it would help stave off user cancelations.<\/p>\n

\n\tMany YouTube TV subscribers dropped the service in frustration. According to a survey fielded last week,\u00a024% of YouTube TV users said they had canceled or intended to cancel their accounts<\/a>\u00a0over the Disney blackout. A YouTube rep said that \u201cwhile subscriber churn is always regrettable, it\u2019s been manageable and does not align with the findings of this survey.\u201d Disney took a hit, too, losing more than $4 million per day during the blackout<\/a>, according to an estimate by Morgan Stanley analysts.<\/p>\n

\n\tGoogle had said Disney was asking for an unprecedented fee increase for the full suite of ESPN channels, ABC local stations, FX, Disney Channel, Freeform, Nat Geo and more \u2014 while Disney claimed the tech giant was \u201crefusing to pay fair rates for our channels.\u201d According to Google, Disney was trying to \u201creset\u201d the market pricing for its programming (so it could charge similarly higher rates in upcoming renewals with other pay-TV distributors) and that Disney was insisting YouTube TV take the Mouse House\u2019s full lineup of networks. The negotiating teams were led by Disney Platform Distribution EVP Sean Breen and YouTube chief business officer Mary Ellen Coe.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe removal of Disney\u2019s networks from YouTube TV came a day before a busy Nov. 1 Saturday slate for college football as major marquee teams face pivotal contests, many of them aired on ESPN and ABC. In light of the blackout, ESPN made its \u201cCollege GameDay\u201d football pregame show available free to watch via a livestream on X<\/a>. YouTube TV customers also missed two airings of \u201cMonday Night Football\u201d on ABC and ESPN. (YouTube pointed out to users they could catch all of ESPN\u2019s programming on the ESPN Unlimited subscription service.)<\/p>\n

\n\tAlong with Disney\u2019s live channels, YouTube TV customers\u2019 DVR recordings of the media conglomerate\u2019s programming were removed, as is standard in such disputes. With the deal renewal, YouTube TV subscribers will regain access to recordings that were previously in their library, according to YouTube.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Thursday, Disney CEO Bob Iger told analysts that the company had been \u201cworking tirelessly to close this deal\u201d but said, \u201cIt\u2019s also imperative that we make sure that we agree to a deal that reflects the value that we deliver, which both YouTube, by the way, and Alphabet, have told us, is greater than the value of any other provider.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDisney Entertainment\u2019s Walden and Bergman and\u00a0ESPN\u2019s\u00a0Pitaro had previously addressed the impasse in several memos to staffers. \u201cYouTube TV and its owner, Google, are not interested in achieving a fair deal with us,\u201d the execs wrote in an Oct. 31 email<\/a>. \u201cInstead, they want to use their power and extraordinary resources to eliminate competition and devalue the very content that helped them build their service.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, ahead of this year\u2019s Election Night (Nov. 4), Disney asked Google to restore ABC on YouTube TV for one day to serve the \u201cpublic interest.\u201d Google declined \u2014 and instead suggested that Disney allow YouTube TV to make ABC and ESPN available<\/a> while the two sides continued talks because those are \u201cthe channels that people want.\u201d Disney didn\u2019t go for the idea.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Disney-Google clash became public Oct. 23, when Disney began alerting viewers that its networks could be removed from YouTube TV<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tDisney has faced other tough negotiations with distributors amid the transition to ESPN Unlimited \u2014 the standalone streaming service launched in August<\/a> that includes everything on the sports programmer\u2019s lineup \u2014 and its continued investment in Disney+ and Hulu.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2023, Disney\u2019s networks had a 10-day blackout on Charter Communications cable systems in a similar fight over price. To settle the Charter deal<\/a>, Disney allowed Charter\u2019s high-tier TV subscribers to access Disney+ and the ESPN+ streaming app. In 2024,\u00a0ESPN and other Disney nets went dark on DirecTV for nearly two weeks<\/a>\u00a0before they reached a new deal. In October, Disney and Comcast quietly reached a carriage renewal deal.<\/p>\n

\n\tGoogle has encountered no small amount of friction in deal-renewal talks this year for YouTube TV. Other programmers that have fought with the internet company include\u00a0Paramount Global\u00a0(now Paramount Skydance)<\/a>,\u00a0Fox Corp.<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0NBCUniversal<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 each of which reached a new deal without a blackout. At the end of September,\u00a0YouTube TV dropped Univision<\/a>, with Google alleging the price increases sought by parent company TelevisaUnivision were drastically out of line with viewership on the platform.<\/p>\n

\n\tYouTube TV is the biggest internet-TV service in the U.S., estimated to have more than 10 million subscribers. Next is Disney, which last week closed a deal to merge its Hulu + Live TV business with Fubo<\/a>; together, those have almost 6 million subs in North America. Google had asserted Disney\u2019s hardball tactics over a YouTube TV deal was \u201cbenefiting their own live TV products, including Hulu + Live TV and Fubo.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ESPN, ABC and other Disney TV networks are coming back to YouTube TV. Google and Disney finally ended…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28,3716,352,168,72175],"class_list":{"0":"post-292335","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-disney","10":"tag-espn","11":"tag-google","12":"tag-youtube-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}