Disney vs. YouTube TV, Day 5: Is It Over?
By Phillip Swann
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YouTube TV last Friday morning (October 31, 2025) lost all Disney-owned channels, including ESPN, the ABC affiliates and FX, due to a carriage dispute between the companies. Until there is a settlement, The TV Answer Man will post a daily notice here on whether the blackout has been lifted. I will publish the update in the early morning hours so when you wake up, you can check whether the two sides have settled. I encourage you to bookmark the site for easier reference.
I will also include the latest news related to the fight in the daily post so you can find out what Disney and YouTube TV executives and subscribers are saying and doing in response to the blackout.
So, it’s day five of the dispute. Tuesday at 3:30 a.m. ET. Is the dispute over? Not yet. Let’s go to the updates:
Fans Go Berserk Over Loss of Monday Night Football
The 10 million subscribers to YouTube TV were unable to watch last night’s Monday Night Football game and, after seeing the reaction on social media, it seems like all 10 million decided to post angry complaints. Fans still largely blamed both sides for the blackout but the frustration reached new heights with average folks and celebrities pitching fits. Disney and YouTube TV undoubtedly knew this would happen and the fact that it didn’t trigger a settlement before last night’s game tells us just how far apart the companies still are in the negotiations.
Report: Disney & YouTube ‘Far Apart’ In Negotiations
And speaking of far apart, The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reports that the two companies are “far apart on the central issue of the price per subscriber that YouTube TV will pay Disney for its content.” Among other things, Marchand says that the streamer wants a ‘Most Favored Nation’ clause that would stipulate that YouTube TV’s fees would never exceed what others pay in future negotiations. For example, if Comcast or DIRECTV were able to get a lower rate a few years from now, YouTube TV’s rate would fall to that level as well. Sounds like a new agreement isn’t likely at least before this weekend’s college football games. (Hat tip to Sports Business Journal.)
YouTube TV Nixes Disney’s Request to Restore ABC For Election
Disney yesterday asked YouTube TV to restore its ABC programming today (November 4, 2025) so its subscribers can watch the network’s election coverage. Several states today are holding odd year elections including hotly contested governor races in Virginia and New Jersey. Several hours after Disney made the request publicly, YouTube TV issued a statement declining the invitation. The company countered that Disney should let it restore ABC and ESPN while negotiations continued. With ESPN being Disney’s biggest leverage point, the programmer said no thanks. Disney made a similar request in 2024 when it was embroiled in a carriage dispute with DIRECTV. The company wanted the TV provider to restore ABC for the September debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. DIRECTV rejected the request, saying it would cause “customer confusion.”
Report: Disney Losing $5 Million a Day During Blackout
Awful Announcing’s Drew Lerner estimates that Disney is losing roughly $5 million every day during the carriage dispute. He writes: “According to numerous reports, Disney generally receives about $15 per month per subscriber from pay TV providers for the right to distribute the ESPN family of networks. YouTube TV boasts approximately 10 million monthly subscribers. So for each month that Disney is not getting paid by YouTube TV, it loses about $150 million (and likely a bit more when accounting for non-ESPN networks owned by Disney). On a per day basis, that comes out to about $5 million, meaning Disney has already missed out on about $20 million in revenue for the four days its networks have been blacked out on YouTube TV.” Of course, $20 million to Disney is pocket change to you and I, but money is money. To read the Awful Announcing report, click here.
Barstool Sports Chief Says YouTube TV Will Win the Fight
Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, predicts that YouTube TV will win the standoff with Disney. The controversial sports pundit said on his Fox podcast, Wake Up Barstool, that “I’m under no delusion that Disney gives a crap about us, or YouTube TV gives a crap about us. They’re pointing the finger, putting us in the middle. They only care about their bottom lines, and unfortunately, the market — us — will dictate who wins in this argument. There’s no point in complaining. The pocketbook will dictate it. As a business guy, I totally understand the fight, and my guess is ESPN wins.” To learn more about Portnoy’s comments, click here.
That’s it for now. Come back to The TV Answer Man for more news on the Disney-YouTube TV blackout. And don’t forget that we will have an early morning update every day until the dispute is settled.
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YouTube TV said that if the blackout is ‘extended,’ it would provide a $20 subscriber credit.
What is their definition of “extended”?
They have not defined it.
Got it! Not surprising, why would they start being accountable?
I canceled YTTV yesterday and there was no effort whatsoever to keep me. You wanna know how far apart they are on a deal? The rep used the words “the service “could be” restored and “if” the service is restored. This is going to be a long term thing and when people realize there are other avenues to go , they will forget about YTTV. Any word on what their cancellation numbers look like 5 days in?