YouTube TV vs. Disney, Day 9: Is It Over?
By Phillip Swann
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YouTube TV on Halloween (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 nine of the dispute. Saturday at 4:30 a.m. ET. Is the dispute over? Nope, nope, nope. Let’s go to the updates:
Leaked Disney Memo Dampens Saturday Settlement Chances?
Three top Disney executives yesterday issued an internal memo to employees which said it appears that the company would not reach a settlement with YouTube TV before this weekend’s college football games or Monday Night Football.
“We realize this has been a challenging week, with everyone asking the same question as millions of YouTube TV subscribers during the busiest time of the year in sports: When will ESPN and ABC be back on the service?” the memo stated. “We wish we could give you that answer, but unfortunately, we are headed into another sports-packed weekend without a deal in place.”
The memo, which also laid the blame on YouTube TV for prolonging the impasse, magically made its way to the e-mail boxes of several top industry journalists who wrote stories quoting Disney as saying there would likely be no settlement this weekend.
Disney clearly leaked the memo to create the impression there would be no deal before the weekend’s college football games. Why would the Mouse Network do this? The prospect of another weekend football blackout would panic YouTube TV subscribers, many of whom would either cancel or threaten to. This would put more pressure on the streamer to soften its demands before today’s games because it doesn’t want to lose more customers. Or, at least, that is what Disney was intending, in my view.
I don’t know if the gambit will help, but YouTube TV soon responded to the leaked memo, bitterly accusing Disney of “old tactics” and negotiating in the media.
My guess is that there will be one more negotiating session (the exchange of new proposals) before today’s games. We’ll see if Disney’s PR scheme paid off.
Are the Companies Far Apart? Yes, But…
Andrew Marchand, who writes for The Athletic, posted a column on Friday saying that YouTube TV and Disney are “far apart” in their negotiations to resolve the now nine-day blackout of the programmer’s channels on the Google-owned streaming service. I believe Marchand’s reporting; he’s one of the best in the business. But let me offer a few qualifying remarks:
If the companies are “far apart,” that means nothing, or, at least, next to nothing. I’ve been reporting on the TV industry now for 35 years and have covered every angle of the business including the inner workings of carriage negotiations. I have talked to numerous TV officials about how these fights start, and sometimes stall, but ultimately resolve themselves in almost every case. Two sides who are ‘far apart’ can have a deal within hours. It can move that fast.
Carriage negotiations are not continuous. They happen in installments and are usually tied to events such as the eve of a big sports weekend. Companies will time counter- proposals accordingly. Consequently, Disney and YouTube TV could have been far apart on Friday but reach a new agreement today, just in time for the college football weekend. We’ll see…
McAfee’s X Marks the Spot For ESPN’s College GameDay
ESPN commentator Pat McAfee announced yesterday that, for the second straight week, the network will offer a free live feed of College GameDay on his X account. This will allow YouTube TV subscribers, and everyone else, to watch the pre-game show which starts today at 9 a.m. ET. The GameDay team, which includes McAfee, will be in Lubbock, Texas today to preview the Texas Tech-BYU game. To learn more, click here. To see McAfee’s X account, see below:
That’s it for now. (Hey, it’s a Saturday!) But if there’s a significant update today, we will post it at TVAnswerMan.com. And come back tomorrow morning for another ‘Is It Over’ update if the two companies do not reach a settlement today.
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