Millions of YouTube TV subscribers were left frustrated on Thursday night as a major blackout cut off access to ESPN, ABC, and several other Disney-owned channels. The outage began around 9 p.m. after contract talks between YouTube TV and Disney collapsed over carriage fees — the payments YouTube TV makes to stream Disney’s networks.
Popular shows like SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt, 9-1-1: Nashville, and Grey’s Anatomy were abruptly interrupted. More than 10 million users across the U.S. lost access to key Disney channels, including FX, Disney Jr., and National Geographic, marking one of the largest TV blackouts in recent years.
YouTube TV, owned by Google, said it no longer had legal rights to distribute Disney’s channels once the agreement expired. “We know this is a frustrating and disappointing outcome for our subscribers,” the company stated, urging Disney to work toward a fair resolution.
To ease the impact, YouTube TV announced it would offer affected subscribers a $20 credit if the blackout continues, stressing its goal to protect customers from rising costs driven by higher channel fees.
The Battle Over Carriage Fees
The dispute between Disney and YouTube TV centres on carriage fees — the payments distributors make to networks for including their channels in subscription bundles. Disney argues that it needs higher fees to cover the growing cost of sports programming, including expensive rights to broadcast NFL, NBA, and college football games.
YouTube TV, however, believes Disney’s demands are unreasonable. The platform says the proposed rates would force it to increase subscription prices, which have already more than doubled since its launch in 2017, from $35 to $82.99 per month.
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Disney claims that YouTube TV is refusing to pay “market rates” and highlighted that it has already secured deals with other major distributors such as Charter, Spectrum and Comcast under similar terms. “Unfortunately, Google’s YouTube TV has chosen to deny its subscribers the content they value most by refusing to pay fair rates for our channels,” Disney said in a statement.
Meanwhile, YouTube TV accuses Disney of using blackouts as a negotiating tactic to pressure it into accepting higher fees. The company said that Disney is trying to drive subscribers toward its own competing services, like Hulu + Live TV and Fubo, which offer many of the same channels.
Disney, YouTube TV, and Industry Tensions
This clash reflects growing tensions across the television industry as streaming services and traditional networks struggle to balance profits and pricing. Over the past decade, more than 40 million households have “cut the cord,” moving away from expensive cable and satellite packages toward streaming options.
Disney also accused Google of leveraging its size and financial power to push for unfair terms. “With a $3 trillion market cap, Google is using its market dominance to eliminate competition and undercut industry-standard terms we’ve successfully negotiated with every other distributor,” Disney’s statement read.
This isn’t the first time YouTube TV has been in such a situation. Since August, Fox Corp., Comcast’s NBCUniversal, and TelevisaUnivision have all accused YouTube TV of aggressive negotiating tactics. While Fox and NBCUniversal managed to renew contracts before any interruption, Univision channels have been off YouTube TV for nearly a month.
Further complicating matters, former Disney executive Justin Connolly left the company to join YouTube TV last year. Disney attempted to block the move legally but lost the case, putting Connolly directly across the negotiation table from his former employer.
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Viewers Left Without Popular Shows and Sports
The blackout has left millions of sports and entertainment fans frustrated. Popular programs like college football, NFL games, and Monday Night Football on ESPN and ABC are now unavailable to YouTube TV subscribers.
ABC’s local stations, including KABC-TV in Los Angeles, have also gone dark, cutting off access to local news, Good Morning America, Jeopardy!, and Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Similar disputes in the past have lasted days or weeks, such as Disney’s 13-day blackout with DirecTV and a 10-day one with Charter Spectrum.
It remains unclear when ESPN, ABC, and other Disney channels will return. Until a deal is reached, millions of viewers are stuck without their favourite shows and live sports as Disney and YouTube TV continue to defend their positions.