YouTube TV vs. Disney, Day 10: Is It Over?
By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man – Follow me on X.
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 10 of the dispute. Sunday at 4:20 a.m. ET. Is the dispute over? Not yet. Let’s go to the updates:
Good News: They Are Still Talking; Bad News: No Deal Yet
Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reported yesterday that the two companies were engaged in negotiations on Saturday. This runs counter to some online comments from subscribers who have suggested the companies are so far apart that they are not even talking. Some YouTube TV customers have even said that the Disney channels may not return for months, if ever, because Google has so MUCH MONEY that it can wait until it gets the exact deal it wants from Disney. That’s a faulty thesis. Why? Google paid a small fortune to get the rights to the Sunday Ticket. The strategy was to use the Ticket to build a subscriber dominance in the live streaming category. It worked. The Ticket has enabled YouTube TV to get around 10 million subs, about twice as many as its nearest rival. But if you don’t have ESPN and ABC long-term, those numbers will melt like an ice cube, making the Ticket investment a folly and YouTube TV a dead service walking. That’s why they will settle at some point, and sooner than later.
But Google runs YouTube TV like any other business; having it profitable matters. That’s why they haven’t carried regional sports networks which usually demand high carriage fees; Google wants YTTV to be profitable and they have deemed the RSNs not to be cost effective. And it’s why they are now trying so hard to get the best terms possible from Disney.
YouTube TV to Start Dishing Out $20 Credits
Both Andrew Marchand and Todd Spangler of Variety reported yesterday that YouTube TV will begin offering $20 credits today if the blackout is still in place. The streamer has said from the dispute’s beginning that it would do this if the blackout lasted an “extended period of time.” Well now we know what an extended period means.
NFL OKs Monday Night Football Simulcasts On ABC
Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports reports that the NFL has granted permission to ESPN to simulcast the next two weeks of Monday Night Football (including tomorrow’s must-see matchup between the Eagles and Packers) on ABC. If the blackout goes for an extended period of time – and then some – at least YouTube TV fans will be able to get their antennas out and watch those games.
What Are YouTube TV Subscribers Saying?
Now, rather than provide more newsy, and sometimes snarky, updates about the dispute, we will dedicate the rest of the column to the subscribers who are suffering the most from the blackout. Below are some of the more pithy comments from YouTube TV customers over the last two days on X, unedited and, yes, sometimes a bit unhinged (but perhaps understandably so.)
That’s it for now. Check back later today to see if we have updates on the dispute. And don’t forget to come back early Monday morning for our new ‘Is It Over’ column, assuming the companies haven’t settled by then.
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