Disney channels, including ESPN and ABC, went dark on YouTube TV Thursday night before the midnight contract expiration. The unusual move happened because “YouTube required additional time operationally to wind down service and also notify customers,” according to Deadline sources. But Disney brass (Disney Entertainment Co-Chairs Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, plus ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro) said in the memo neither they nor subscribers got a heads-up that the blackout would happen early. Now YouTube TV customers not only can’t access live Disney programming—college football, Dancing With The Stars—”but also deleted all previously recorded shows and events from their subscribers’ libraries,” the memo bemoans.
“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,” Disney said in a statement to Deadline on Thursday. “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.”
Disney has had a few carriage battles of its own in recent years, including a standoff with Charter Communications (the company behind Spectrum cable service) that saw Disney channels go dark for over 10 days in 2023. As a major media conglomerate with a healthy streaming ecosystem unto itself, the company has pretty good leverage. Indeed, YouTube complained in its own statement that the blackout “directly harms our subscribers while benefiting their own live TV products, including Hulu + Live TV and Fubo.” YouTube promised subscribers a $20 credit toward their bills if Disney programming stays dark for an unspecific “extended period of time,” and warned that the blackout is “a negotiating tactic to force deal terms that would raise prices on our customers.”
But Disney won’t be bullied. “Their actions make clear how little regard they have for their customers and are consistent with an attitude which has been prevalent throughout our negotiations — YouTube TV and its owner, Google, are not interested in achieving a fair deal with us,” Walden, Bergman, and Pitaro wrote in their memo. “The bottom line is that our channels are extremely valuable, and we can only continue to program them with the sports and entertainment viewers love most if we stand our ground against tactics that threaten the integrity of our business and the value of our creative work. We are asking nothing more of YouTube TV than what we have gotten from every other distributor—fair rates for our channels.”
