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YouTube TV and Disney Reach Deal Ending Two-Week Blackout of ESPN, ABC
TV & Streaming

YouTube TV and Disney Reach Deal Ending Two-Week Blackout of ESPN, ABC

by jummy84
written by jummy84

ESPN, ABC and other Disney TV networks are coming back to YouTube TV.

Google and Disney finally ended their standoff, announcing a multiyear agreement Friday on pricing and terms for a renewed carriage deal for YouTube TV. Disney’s nets went dark on the internet TV service just before midnight ET on Thursday, Oct. 30, after the two sides remained far apart on a deal before the expiration of the previous contract.

Under the new agreement, ESPN’s full lineup of sports — including content from ESPN Unlimited — will be made available on YouTube TV to base-plan subscribers at no additional cost by the end of 2026. In addition, access to a selection of live and on-demand programming from ESPN Unlimited will be available inside YouTube TV.

The deal also lets YouTube include the Disney+ and Hulu bundle as part of “select YouTube offerings.” According to Disney, “select networks” will be included in various genre-specific packages that YouTube TV expects to launch in the future.

“This new agreement reflects our continued commitment to delivering exceptional entertainment and evolving with how audiences choose to watch,’’ Disney Entertainment co-chairmen Alan Bergman and Dana Walden and ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a joint statement. “It recognizes the tremendous value of Disney’s programming and provides YouTube TV subscribers with more flexibility and choice. We are pleased that our networks have been restored in time for fans to enjoy the many great programming options this weekend, including college football.”

In a statement, a YouTube spokesperson said Friday, “We’re happy to share that we’ve reached an agreement with Disney that preserves the value of our service for our subscribers and future flexibility in our offers. Subscribers should see channels including ABC, ESPN and FX returning to their service over the course of the day, as well as any recordings that were previously in their Library. We apologize for the disruption and appreciate our subscribers’ patience as we negotiated on their behalf. ”

The deal supersedes their prior distribution agreement, inked in December 2021 after a two-day blackout.

On Sunday (Nov. 9) YouTube began issuing one-time $20 credits to YouTube TV customers for the loss of Disney’s programming, in the hopes it would help stave off user cancelations.

Many YouTube TV subscribers dropped the service in frustration. According to a survey fielded last week, 24% of YouTube TV users said they had canceled or intended to cancel their accounts over the Disney blackout. A YouTube rep said that “while subscriber churn is always regrettable, it’s been manageable and does not align with the findings of this survey.” Disney took a hit, too, losing more than $4 million per day during the blackout, according to an estimate by Morgan Stanley analysts.

Google had said Disney was asking for an unprecedented fee increase for the full suite of ESPN channels, ABC local stations, FX, Disney Channel, Freeform, Nat Geo and more — while Disney claimed the tech giant was “refusing to pay fair rates for our channels.” According to Google, Disney was trying to “reset” the market pricing for its programming (so it could charge similarly higher rates in upcoming renewals with other pay-TV distributors) and that Disney was insisting YouTube TV take the Mouse House’s full lineup of networks. The negotiating teams were led by Disney Platform Distribution EVP Sean Breen and YouTube chief business officer Mary Ellen Coe.

The removal of Disney’s networks from YouTube TV came a day before a busy Nov. 1 Saturday slate for college football as major marquee teams face pivotal contests, many of them aired on ESPN and ABC. In light of the blackout, ESPN made its “College GameDay” football pregame show available free to watch via a livestream on X. YouTube TV customers also missed two airings of “Monday Night Football” on ABC and ESPN. (YouTube pointed out to users they could catch all of ESPN’s programming on the ESPN Unlimited subscription service.)

Along with Disney’s live channels, YouTube TV customers’ DVR recordings of the media conglomerate’s programming were removed, as is standard in such disputes. With the deal renewal, YouTube TV subscribers will regain access to recordings that were previously in their library, according to YouTube.

On Thursday, Disney CEO Bob Iger told analysts that the company had been “working tirelessly to close this deal” but said, “It’s also imperative that we make sure that we agree to a deal that reflects the value that we deliver, which both YouTube, by the way, and Alphabet, have told us, is greater than the value of any other provider.”

Disney Entertainment’s Walden and Bergman and ESPN’s Pitaro had previously addressed the impasse in several memos to staffers. “YouTube TV and its owner, Google, are not interested in achieving a fair deal with us,” the execs wrote in an Oct. 31 email. “Instead, they want to use their power and extraordinary resources to eliminate competition and devalue the very content that helped them build their service.”

Meanwhile, ahead of this year’s Election Night (Nov. 4), Disney asked Google to restore ABC on YouTube TV for one day to serve the “public interest.” Google declined — and instead suggested that Disney allow YouTube TV to make ABC and ESPN available while the two sides continued talks because those are “the channels that people want.” Disney didn’t go for the idea.

The Disney-Google clash became public Oct. 23, when Disney began alerting viewers that its networks could be removed from YouTube TV.

Disney has faced other tough negotiations with distributors amid the transition to ESPN Unlimited — the standalone streaming service launched in August that includes everything on the sports programmer’s lineup — and its continued investment in Disney+ and Hulu.

In 2023, Disney’s networks had a 10-day blackout on Charter Communications cable systems in a similar fight over price. To settle the Charter deal, Disney allowed Charter’s high-tier TV subscribers to access Disney+ and the ESPN+ streaming app. In 2024, ESPN and other Disney nets went dark on DirecTV for nearly two weeks before they reached a new deal. In October, Disney and Comcast quietly reached a carriage renewal deal.

Google has encountered no small amount of friction in deal-renewal talks this year for YouTube TV. Other programmers that have fought with the internet company include Paramount Global (now Paramount Skydance), Fox Corp. and NBCUniversal — each of which reached a new deal without a blackout. At the end of September, YouTube TV dropped Univision, with Google alleging the price increases sought by parent company TelevisaUnivision were drastically out of line with viewership on the platform.

YouTube TV is the biggest internet-TV service in the U.S., estimated to have more than 10 million subscribers. Next is Disney, which last week closed a deal to merge its Hulu + Live TV business with Fubo; together, those have almost 6 million subs in North America. Google had asserted Disney’s hardball tactics over a YouTube TV deal was “benefiting their own live TV products, including Hulu + Live TV and Fubo.”

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Chris Ripley
TV & Streaming

Sinclair CEO Rips Disney Over ABC Blackout for YouTube TV Users

by jummy84
written by jummy84

Chris Ripley, the CEO of Sinclair Broadcast Group, is tired of blackouts — specifically, the one currently keeping ABC programming from about 10 million YouTube TV subscribers. It is such a problem for him that, on a Wednesday conference call tied to his company’s summer 2025 earnings quarter, Ripley didn’t even talk about the Jimmy Kimmel Live! suspension he helped shepherd in September.

“We, as local broadcasters, have no say in whether our content and the content we pay to air will be distributed to local viewers,” Ripley said. “This was clearly not the intent of the Communications Act, and seems to be, from our perspective, an antitrust issue as well.”

Considering the Communications Act was written in 1934 to regulate interstate and foreign wire and radio communications, no, this clearly was not its intent. The act formed the FCC, the government agency that regulates broadcast TV networks, like Disney’s ABC.

These regular disputes over carriage fees (YouTube TV just got out of one with NBCUniversal) and sometimes the subsequent channel(s) blackouts “continue to hurt local viewers and … the ecosystem of local journalism,” Ripley continued.

Ripley believes his local ABC affiliates should still have their content, primarily news and sports, carried through to YouTube TV subscribers, regardless of Disney’s position. Or at least, maybe ask first? To that end, Ripley says he has spoken with both the SEC and antitrust regulators, and the FCC has “opened an investigation into hurtful network affiliation practices.”

“Disney/ABC and other networks should not be able to dictate to us whether we can or cannot distribute content to YouTube TV or even Hulu and Fubo, which, coincidentally are now also owned by Disney,” Ripley said. “Particularly concerning is that consumers are now being forced to buy more streaming services from one of the parties in the dispute to get the content that they literally already paid for.”

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YouTube TV Blackout of ABC, ESPN, Disney Networks in Deal Dispute
TV & Streaming

YouTube TV Blackout of ABC, ESPN, Disney Networks in Deal Dispute

by jummy84
written by jummy84

Disney‘s networks including ESPN and ABC are going dark on YouTube TV.

Google says YouTube TV expects to remove Disney’s networks at the stroke of midnight ET, after the two sides remain far apart on a deal renewal to keep ABC, ESPN and more on the internet TV service. The main sticking point is price — Disney is asking for rate hikes that Google isn’t willing to agree to.

YouTube TV says that if Disney’s channels remain unavailable for “an extended period of time,” it will offer subscribers a one-time $20 credit. YouTube TV’s base subscription plan costs $82.99/month. With the blackout, TV users nationwide will lose their local ABC stations, as well as access to ESPN sports programming including NFL, college football, NBA and NHL games.

Beginning at 9 p.m. PT on Oct. 30/12 a.m. ET on Oct. 31, YouTube TV will begin pulling Disney-owned networks off its service, when the companies’ previous agreement expires. In addition to dropping the live networks, YouTube TV also is removing any DVR library recordings users have made from those networks.

Disney began alerting viewers on Oct. 23 about the carriage dispute with YouTube TV, pointing out that its networks could be removed from the pay-TV provider. YouTube TV is the biggest internet-TV service in the U.S., estimated to have more than 10 million subscribers. In second place is Disney, which just closed a deal to merge its Hulu + Live TV business with Fubo; together, those have almost 6 million subs in North America.

“Last week Disney used the threat of a blackout on YouTube TV as a negotiating tactic to force deal terms that would raise prices on our customers,” a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement. “They’re now following through on that threat, suspending their content on YouTube TV. This decision directly harms our subscribers while benefiting their own live TV products, including Hulu + Live TV and Fubo.”

The YouTube rep continued, “We know this is a frustrating and disappointing outcome for our subscribers and we continue to urge Disney to work with us constructively to reach a fair agreement that restores their networks to YouTube TV. If their content remains off YouTube TV for an extended period of time, we’ll offer subscribers a $20 credit.”

According to Disney, YouTube TV wants a better deal than anyone else in the market — including Comcast and Charter, which have more TV customers — and is unwilling to pay market rates for Disney’s networks or agree to terms that Disney has reached with other distributors, including it own Hulu + Live TV and Fubo services. In its negotiations with Google, Disney also has proposed new genre-based tiers and packaging flexibility to give YouTube TV customers more choices.

“Unfortunately, Google’s YouTube TV has chosen to deny their subscribers the content they value most by refusing to pay fair rates for our channels, including ESPN and ABC,” a Disney spokesperson said. “Without a new agreement in place, their subscribers will not have access to our programming, which includes the best lineup in live sports — anchored by the NFL, NBA, and college football, with 13 of the top 25 college teams playing this weekend.”

The Disney rep continued: “With a $3 trillion market cap, Google is using its market dominance to eliminate competition and undercut the industry-standard terms we’ve successfully negotiated with every other distributor. We know how frustrating this is for YouTube TV subscribers and remain committed to working toward a resolution as quickly as possible.”

Here’s the full list of networks being pulled from YouTube TV: ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews, Freeform, FX, FXX, FXM, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, SEC Network, Nat Geo, Nat Geo Wild, ABC News Live, ACC Network, Localish; on the Spanish plan, ESPN Deportes, Baby TV Español and Nat Geo Mundo.

Disney is the latest media conglomerate to lock horns with Google over YouTube TV this year. Others that have fought with the company include Paramount Global (now Paramount Skydance), Fox Corp. and NBCUniversal — each of which reached a new deal without a blackout. However, YouTube TV dropped Univision and other TelevisaUnivision-owned networks at the end of September after the two sides could not reach a new agreement.

In 2023, Disney and Charter had a public battle over a renewal, before the two sides resolved their differences to avoid a blackout. In 2024, ESPN and other Disney nets went dark on DirecTV for nearly two weeks before they reached a new deal. Earlier this month, Disney inked a carriage renewal pact with Comcast without any drama.

In December 2021, Disney and Google reached a carriage renewal after a two-day blackout. YouTube TV first launched in April 2017.

In another wrinkle to the current Disney/Google standoff, Justin Connolly, Disney’s former head of distribution, joined YouTube as VP of global head of media this spring. Disney sued YouTube and Connolly, alleging breach of contract and seeking to block his employment at Google, in part citing Connolly’s knowledge of Disney as it pertained to contract renewal talks for YouTube TV. After Disney lost a legal ruling in the case, they recently reached a settlement on the matter.

Pictured top: ABC’s “High Potential” starring Kaitlin Olson and Daniel Sunjata

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'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' to Resume Airing on Sinclair's ABC Stations, Ending Blackout in Dozens of Cities Boost
Celebrity News

‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ to Resume Airing on Sinclair’s ABC Stations, Ending Blackout in Dozens of Cities Boost

by jummy84
written by jummy84

‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ to Resume Airing on Sinclair’s ABC Stations, Ending Blackout in Dozens of Cities Boost

Sinclair Broadcast Group announced it will once again carry “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on its ABC-affiliated stations, lifting a blackout that kept the show off the air in dozens of U.S. cities.

The network had previously blacked out the show even after ABC reinstated it nationally, in response to controversial remarks made by Kimmel. Sinclair said its decision to resume airing comes after engaging with local community and advertiser feedback, and reaffirming its duty to balance national programming with local interests.

In an official statement, Sinclair emphasized: “Our objective throughout this process has been to ensure that programming remains accurate and engaging for the widest possible audience.” The company noted that it must juggle responsibilities to its communities while also honoring its network obligations.

The blackout had affected major markets, including Washington, D.C. and Seattle, spotlighting tensions around media, free speech, and affiliate control.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DPE0a0bD3Em/?igsh=M3JteHg0cWlvMzBj


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Fox Corp. And YouTube TV Strike Carriage Deal, Ending Threat Of Blackout
TV & Streaming

Fox Corp. And YouTube TV Strike Carriage Deal, Ending Threat Of Blackout

by jummy84
written by jummy84

Fox Corp. and YouTube TV have agreed on a renewed carriage agreement, ending the threat of a blackout that would have affected a major college football game and potentially the start of the NFL season.

The companies did not release details or offer anything more than a brief statement affirming that the Fox broadcast network, Fox News, plus six other networks and more than two dozen local stations will remain active. YouTube TV, which launched in 2017, is now a leading pay-TV provider, with more than 8 million subscribers.

As the Wednesday afternoon contract deadline approached, Fox and YouTube agreed on a short-term extension to continue negotiating, indicating a resolution was imminent.

Fox will carry a highly anticipated college football matchup on Saturday between Ohio State and Texas, the first time since 2017 that the No. 1 team in the polls has faced No. 3 in Week 1 of the season. The NFL season, which starts next Thursday, often sees its biggest ratings of a given week with Fox’s late-afternoon NFC window.

As the saber-rattling began in recent days, YouTube TV told its customers they would have the option to sign up for Fox’s just-launched subscription streaming outlet Fox One in the event of a blackout. The pay-TV operator was also promising a $10 credit on subscribers’ bills.

More than most of its media rivals, Fox is heavily dependent upon linear carriage, and has secured significant carriage fee increases in recent years despite the ongoing shrinkage of the pay-TV bundle. Historically, the company has been aggressive in seeking fee increases and this time of year it has a strong hand, with Fox News ratings robust and the Fox broadcast network entering its prime season. In addition to college football and the NFL, Fox also has carried Major League Baseball playoffs and the World Series in October for the past two-plus decades and it has remained a strong ratings draw.

The impasse got the attention of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who expressed impatience with it even though his agency does not have jurisdiction in carriage disputes.

“Google removing Fox channels from YouTube TV would be a terrible outcome,” Carr posted on X. “Millions of Americans are relying on YouTube to resolve this dispute so they can keep watching the news and sports they want – including this week’s Big Game: Texas @ Ohio State. Get a deal done Google!”

YouTube responded with its own post on X: “We love football too @brendancarrfcc! We’re working hard to negotiate a deal that’s fair to Fox, our valued subscribers and all of our partners. Stay tuned.”

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