Key Points
- Disney executives claim YouTube TV pulled their channels without warning.
- Disney and YouTube have both been warning TV viewers for weeks that a disruption was likely.
- Both sides need to make a deal, soon, to benefit their long-term businesses.
Executives from the Walt Disney Company have claimed Google-owned YouTube TV pulled its channels and programming from their platform without any advanced warning — a claim that is defied by the fact that both sides of the table had been warning customers for weeks that their distribution contract was about to expire.
In a note obtained by Variety (and almost certainly provided to the outlet by someone within, or with a direct connection to, Disney’s public relations team), three high-level Disney executives — Disney Entertainment co-Chairs Dana Walden and Alan Bergman and ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro — said YouTube TV pulled the rug from under them while they were in the middle of negotiating a new agreement that would have kept channels like ESPN, FX, National Geographic and ABC on the streaming platform for a while longer.
“Last night, YouTube TV pulled our channels from their service, prior to the midnight expiration of our deal, and with no advance notice to their subscribers, or to us,” the three executives complained. “In doing so, they not only cut off access to our live programming, but also deleted all previously recorded shows and events from their subscribers’ libraries.”
YouTube TV did, in fact, drop Disney’s channels early Friday morning, but the action came just after midnight Eastern Time — not before, as the executives complained — which was consistent with the expiration of its carriage contract, according to people familiar with the matter.
Using a YouTube TV subscription, The Desk also noticed that the channels were available before midnight Eastern Time, then disappeared shortly after the clock struck midnight on the East Coast.
It isn’t clear whether Disney executives experienced something different, or what led them to conclude YouTube TV had dropped its channels before the contract expired. Both companies had warned about a possible dispute for weeks — YouTube did so through its social media channels and via direct outreach to subscribers, and Disney has aired warning messages on ESPN and other channels for some time. (Many ESPN commentators and analysts also posted messages on social media about the issue on Thursday.)
YouTube TV’s carriage agreement with broadcasters and programmers like Disney also require the removal of shows stored in a subscriber’s cloud-based digital video recorder (DVR) if one or both sides decide to end their contract. YouTube and other services, including Philo, Frndly TV and Disney’s own Hulu with Live TV, have taken similar action in the past.
While the Disney executives implied the shows were deleted for good, YouTube TV told customers in a statement of their own that saved shows will be restored to their libraries if both sides reach a new agreement — meaning the deletion wasn’t permanent, the shows are just inaccessible while the dispute plays out.
The note didn’t stop there, with Disney executives intent on demonizing their former distribution partner.
“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,” the executives complained. “Instead, they want to use their power and extraordinary resources to eliminate competition and devalue the very content that helped them build their service.”
None of the executives offered any information about the type of deal they’re seeking — how much they want for their channels, or what conditions they’ve placed on the distribution of their channels on YouTube TV.
Sports network ESPN, which is majority-owned by Disney, is typically one of the most-expensive channels for a distributor like YouTube TV to carry. Distributors have complained in recent years that Disney’s onerous bundling terms require it to offer ESPN in base programming packages, which drives the cost of their services up. The arrangement meant customers who never watch the channel were effectively forced to pay for it, simply to access other content from ABC, FX and the Disney Channel.
According to reports, Google wants better distribution terms, similar to the bundling deals that other platforms like Fubo (now owned by Disney), Charter’s Spectrum TV and DIRECTV have received over the years. To that end, Google is said to be preparing its own lower-cost, sports-inclusive programming tier, and it wants to include ESPN in that plan.
Disney likely has no objection to that term, since ESPN is now distributed that way on other services. But Google is also demanding Disney accept a one- or two-year distribution agreement, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. Typically, Disney and other broadcasters make three-year distribution deals.
The Disney executives said their demand to YouTube TV was similar to what they’ve requested from other distributors — “fair rates for our channels” — but that demand also comes at a time when ESPN has lost a significant amount of programming to other companies, including UFC events (moving to Paramount Plus), Formula 1 races (moving to Apple TV) and a chunk of NBA games that are now offered through Comcast’s Peacock and Amazon’s Prime Video (ESPN will retain a limited amount of regular-season and playoff games through a smaller package than its previous deal). The network’s standing with Major League Baseball (MLB) is also in jeopardy as the league considers offers from Comcast and Netflix for some or all of its regular-season games.
ESPN still has a few things going for it, including a deal with the National Football League (NFL) to acquire most of its NFL Media assets, including NFL Network, NFL Channel and distribution rights to NFL RedZone. That deal is still contingent upon certain closing conditions, including regulatory approval. The NFL is expected to take an equity stake in ESPN.
The dispute with YouTube TV doesn’t help matters at Disney, given the NFL’s budding relationship with Google and YouTube. The league already distributes its top package, NFL Sunday Ticket, through YouTube Primetime Channels and YouTube TV, and it recently awarded YouTube the rights to stream, globally, a football game during the opening week of the 2025 season. The NFL and YouTube also have creator-driven deals that are seen as the next logical step in its business, as it placates existing fans across platforms and strives to reach new ones on the popular video app.
All to say, Disney is not in a great position if its dispute with YouTube TV goes longer than a weekend. While some aggrieved YouTube TV subscribers may abscond to Disney’s own $30 per month service ESPN Unlimited, many more are likely to stick with the app, especially if they’ve bought NFL Sunday Ticket.
