YouTube TV Loses ESPN in Disney Standoff — What It Means for Viewers
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YouTube TV subscribers lost access to Disney channels on October 30 in a standoff over skyrocketing live-sports fees. This marks the latest in a growing series of carriage disputes between major content providers and streaming services.
The Walt Disney Company owns several well-known channels, including ABC, FX, National Geographic, Disney Channel, and Disney Junior. Unfortunately for sports fans, it also owns ESPN and ESPN2, as well as the SEC Network, ACC Network, and ESPN Deportes.
As a result, staples like Monday Night Football, the College GameDay show, college football games, and NBA basketball have vanished from YouTube TV. The timing couldn’t be worse — it’s mid-season in the NFL, and the NBA season just tipped off — and sports fans are paying the price. Live sports are already fragmented across multiple streaming services, driving up costs.
YouTube TV is $82.99 per month and has attracted nearly 10 million customers. Industry analysts estimate that Disney’s linear networks account for roughly 25% of YouTube TV’s live content portfolio, underscoring how disruptive this blackout is for subscribers. In its Help Center, Google states:
It’s our goal to restore Disney content to YouTube TV, but if we can’t reach an agreement and their content is unavailable for an extended period of time, we’ll offer our subscribers a $20 credit. If this happens, you’ll receive an email with more information.
For the true sports fan, a $20 credit is hardly meaningful compensation.
While there’s no timetable for the credit, subscribers aren’t happy, and the dispute is getting increasingly uglier. In a recent statement, Disney claims:
Google’s YouTube TV has chosen to deny their subscribers the content they value most by refusing to pay fair rates to our channels, including ESPN and ABC. […] 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 has taken its position directly to viewers, using its most recognizable personalities, like Stephen A. Smith, Scott Van Pelt, and Mike Greenberg, to post social media clips directing viewers to a petition on YouTube TV through a website owned by Disney.
Sports fans who don’t want to wait for a resolution and are willing to pony up additional subscription fees have two options. First, several TV carriers offer Disney and ESPN, as noted by The New York Times.
- Fubo
- Cox
- DirecTV
- Dish
- Hulu + Live TV
- Optimum
- Sling
- Spectrum
- Verizon Fios
- Xfinity
The second option is adding an ESPN Unlimited Plan, which is available through ESPN for an additional $29.99 per month or $299.99 annually. You can also get a bundle that includes ad-supported versions of Disney+, Hulu, and the ESPN+ Unlimited Plan for $29.99 per month for the first 12 months (or $38.99 for the ad-free versions). After one year, the services will renew at the current rate in effect at the time.
Without ESPN, even casual sports fans will miss out not only on NFL, college football, and the NBA, but also on the NHL, MLB, tennis, golf majors, and even the WWE. It’s a mess. Deciding whether the ESPN Unlimited Plan is worth it will likely mean reevaluating and consolidating your existing streaming services. Hopefully, the parties can agree on a resolution soon.
Maybe fans will choose to go to a local bar or restaurant to catch a game rather than pay even more money for ESPN alone. But that’s far from as cozy as watching the games at home. This standoff could encourage many cord-cutters to abandon YouTube TV altogether and consider Disney’s own bundles instead. In the meantime, everyone is losing.
