YouTube TV vs. Disney: Can You Pause Your Sub And Keep the Sunday Ticket?

By Phillip Swann
Subscribe to The  TV Answer Man – It’s Free! Click Here!

TV Answer Man, I know you can pause your YouTube TV subscription but do you know if you pause your sub so you don’t have to pay, can you still get your Sunday Ticket games? I want to get ESPN back but I don’t want to pay for two streaming services!! – Penny, Omaha.

Penny, the YouTube TV-Disney carriage dispute which has blacked out the entire Disney-owned lineup (including ESPN and ABC) since Halloween has the streamer’s subs scrambling for creative solutions. Many sports fans are getting short-term free trials from rival streamers such as Fubo and DIRECTV in the hope that the two sides will soon settle their differences. However, we are now in day 11 with no end in sight.

The dilemma is particularly thorny for YouTube TV customers who have bundled their subscriptions with the NFL Sunday Ticket; many have done so because YouTube offered a discount on the Ticket if bundled with YTTV prior to the start of the season. Now, if they cancel YouTube TV, and switch to another provider that has Disney, ABC and ESPN, they will lose access to their Sunday Ticket subscription.

But what if they just paused their YouTube TV subscription? The streamer allows subscribers to pause their plans from four weeks up to six months. Certainly, the Disney dispute will be settled by then, right? If you paused the sub, you wouldn’t have to pay YouTube TV during that time and you could use the money for another service with ESPN.

Well, the problem here is that if you pause your sub, you will lose access to the Ticket along with your entire YouTube TV lineup. The Ticket is considered part of your bundled package; you can’t pause one without pausing the other.

Sorry, Penny, a good idea but it won’t work in this situation.

I hope that answers your question. Happy viewing and stay safe!

Please consider making a donation to The TV Answer Man site here at the Buy Me a Coffee site. Any donation size is appreciated and will help me continue to provide these articles to you.

Have a Question? Ask The TV Answer Man!
Have a question about a favorite show, streaming service or new TV product? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvanswerman.com. Please include your first name and hometown in your message.