News
Disney warns ESPN, other networks may go out on YouTube TV at month’s end
ESPN and YouTube TV.
David Buono | Icon Sportswire | Jaque Silva | NurPhoto | Getty Images
Just a month after reaching an agreement with NBCUniversal to avoid dropping its networks, YouTube TV has another potential blackout on its hands — this time with Disney.
Disney said Thursday it would begin running public messages for YouTube TV subscribers to alert customers that the company’s networks, including ABC and ESPN, will be dropped from the service if the two sides can’t reach a new distribution agreement, which expires October 30 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
“This is the latest example of Google exploiting its position at the expense of their own customers,” a Disney spokesperson said in a statement. “If we don’t reach a fair deal soon, YouTube TV customers will lose access to ESPN and ABC, and all our marquee programming — including the NFL, college football, NBA and NHL seasons — and so much more.”
Disney began running public announcements on YouTube TV at 5 p.m. ET.
As with NBCUniversal, YouTube TV is asking for better rates for Disney’s programming, according to people familiar with the discussions. YouTube TV has about 10 million subscribers and wants more favorable terms given their scale, the people said.
“We’ve been working in good faith to negotiate a deal with Disney that pays them fairly for their content on YouTube TV,” a spokesperson for the service said in a statement. “Unfortunately, Disney is proposing costly economic terms that would raise prices on YouTube TV customers and give our customers fewer choices, while benefiting Disney’s own live TV products – like Hulu + Live TV and, soon, Fubo. Without an agreement, we’ll have to remove Disney’s content from YouTube TV and if it remains unavailable for an extended period of time, we will offer subscribers a $20 credit.”
YouTube TV and NBCUniversal first reached a temporary extension to avoid a blackout before inking a finalized deal a few days later.
Two years ago, Disney reached an unusual distribution agreement with Charter, the largest U.S. pay TV provider by subscribers, that gave certain Charter subscribers access to Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ for no extra charge. Disney is willing to offer YouTube TV the same terms as that Charter agreement, two of the people said.
The clash between Disney and YouTube has an added element of conflict. YouTube hired away former Disney distribution executive Justin Connolly earlier this year, prompting Disney to file a breach of contract lawsuit. Connolly has recused himself from these discussions, according to the people familiar with the process.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC upon Comcast’s planned spinoff of Versant.
