YouTube TV, the multi-channel, live streaming service, last night lost 17 Disney-owned channels due to a fight over carriage fees. The list of affected channels includes ESPN, FX, Freeform, National Geographic, the Disney Channel and eight Disney-owned ABC stations, among others.
Update: Disney & YouTube TV Sign New Deal; Blackout Over
The previous agreement expired last night at 11:59 p.m. ET. The two companies announced early this morning that they were unable to reach a new pact.
“We’ve held good faith negotiations with Disney for several months. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we were unable to reach an equitable agreement before our existing one expired,” YouTube TV said in a blog post at its site.
“We stand ready to reach an equitable agreement with Google as quickly as possible in order to minimize the inconvenience to YouTube TV viewers by restoring our networks. We hope Google (YouTube TV’s owner) will join us in that effort,” Disney said in its statement.
As promised earlier in the week, YouTube TV cut its monthly price from $64.99 to $49.99 and said it would stay that price for the duration of the blackout.
However, despite the lower price, YouTube TV could face difficulty avoiding widespread defections with the college football bowl season underway. ESPN has the broadcast rights to roughly three dozen bowl games, including seven today.
The good news is that the ESPN+ app, which costs $7 a month, will show some Monday Night Football games including Monday’s Bears-Vikings matchup. (ESPN+ offers partial programming from the ESPN channels, not the complete lineups.)
Still, hundreds of YouTube TV subscribers have already posted their frustration about losing Disney and ESPN on social media sites.
“There’s way too many options out there and that lil $15 doesn’t really matter. Lose Disney, lose me (and thousands more). Make the deal…be humble,” tweeted Rpscott02 on Twitter.
“Just terrible news! Make alternate plans if you want to watch Sports, The Dawgs (Georgia) play in the Orange Bowl! Channels already pulled!” wrote @KeithPitts1964 at 4:56 a.m. ET today.
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I’m not a sports fan, a kid or watch any ABC programming (some FX channels, once and a while).
The only time I need my local ABC station? The Oscars. I remember the 2011 Cablevision blackout. They settled 20 minutes into the broadcast!
I have a very good indoor antenna, I just tested it and I’m getting WABC (better PQ than YTTV or cable) easily. Only possible thing that I would miss? DVR recording. Otherwise I welcome a price cut of $15.
All in all, I hope this keeps up well into 2022. I loathe paying for ESPN, the most expensive set of channels anywhere. I don’t watch them and I hate subsidizing sports fans. Although I’m in the minority it’s a sizable one. I know I’m not the only one who feels this way.
I just ditched Dish due to their dispute causing me to lose my local CBS station and now YouTube tv does this. At the beginning of bowl season no less. Ridiculous.
At least moving to a new streaming service is trivial now that I’ve cut the cord.
A lil $15?? Do these people realize that Disney is asking for more money to carry their channels? Expect an increase in price if/when they do reach an agreement. Instead of whining about missing channels, people will be whining about another price increase.
This spat makes a great case for ala cart TV. Just move all of ESPN programming to ESPN+ or a cable/satellite equivalent and let the sports fans buy it at Disney’s set price, and let the non fans consume their movies and shows without subsidizing the sports crowd.
Totally agree- I wish the providers would hurry up and get it over with. That seems to be where they’re going anyway. The only way to guaranteed keep a channel is to directly buy it from the company that provides it. Otherwise, you’re constantly going to be playing whack-a-mole with missing channels.
…ALA CART TV would be SO EXPENSIVE per channel even YOU could not afford it !!
That is tooo easy and makes toooo much sense.
Toooo bad the cable and Satellite companies don’t see it.
I haven’t missed the Bally RSNs when they were taken off YTTV, I won’t miss Disney. This madness has to stop sometimes.
It’s too bad that all of us TV consumers aren’t willing to just universally boycott each and every cable, satellite, and streaming provider plus all the major content providers until this silly game stops. I watch ESPN a little, could probably live without it, but wouldn’t mind paying a little more to get it. My You Tube TV is $68.50/month. My cable bill had risen to $115, so a few extra bucks to YTTV wouldn’t be the end of the world for me. My major loss is my ABC station as I live beyond the bounds of OTA coverage unless I invest major $ in an outdoor antenna (thanks to weaker digital TV signals). Those who aren’t into sports won’t mind this, but it’s not just ESPN/Disney who does this. NBC/Peacock just settled with Roku (or YTTV, who can keep up, then again it doesn’t really matter), so its not just ESPN/Disney pulling this stunt. Maybe if there were enough boycotters to affect ad dollars, this nonsense would stop.
Can someone help my stoner brain understand the $15 credit issuance? My plan renewed on the 13th (really wish I knew about this Disney spat before that went through). Is this credit just going to be applied to my next bill, meaning it would be $34.99 for the month of January as opposed to the full $49.99? That’s how it reads to me, but part of me wants to (foolishly) hope that they’ll issue a $15 refund to our payment methods. Just typing this out, I think I might have answered my own question, but if someone else wants to chime in with their understanding, it will help clear that up for me.
ESPN is a WORTHLESS CHANNEL AND THE MOST EXPENSIVE CHANNEL TO THE DISTRIBUTOR ON THE PLANET and NON SPORTS PPL are NO LONGER going to FOOT THE BILL for you assclown,couch potato used to be’s.
SPORTS is DEAD…BASIC CABLE is DEAD…STREAMING makes you do MORE work to “watch anything” then most did for a living !
STREAMING will NOT be LESS MONEY in the future. ALL the programmers and DELIVERY PIPELINE PPL are doing is weening your sorry sports ass and OTHERS from the “traditional” ways and between the COST for the INTERNET (which will NEVER go DOWN for long) and the ever shrinking crowd that is willing to PAY for TV entertainment there is ONLY ONE WAY the bill in the future WILL GO.
WHile the PORKERS in the USA gets FATTER, MORE STUPID by the DAY and EVEN MORE LAZY, it is NO WONDER how EASY IT IS TO get you WA WA’s to bitch about ANYTHING (BECAUSE YOU HAVE…WAY TOO MUCH TIME ON YOUR HANDS) !
LOOK at how ESPN is bating the “streamer” with a CHEAPER RATE (which is TOTALLY OFFSET by the ADDITIONAL COST FOR INTERNET (that NO ONE seems to ever MENTION).
ESPN CAN NOT SURVIVE ae a programming service mixed in with the other basic programming.
IF ESPN had to STAND ALONE, it would cost WELL OVER 30 a MONTH and only go UP from there (till the lights go out that is !)
the days of ppl subsidizing you sports clowns are…GOOD AS OVER !