A multi-week programming dispute between the Walt Disney Company and Google-owned streaming service YouTube TV is still having an impact, months after the carriage dispute was settled.
On Monday, Puck’s John Ourand reported Disney-owned sports network ESPN is preparing a new round of layoffs that are the byproduct of financial losses incurred from the dispute with YouTube TV, which left millions of streamers without access to the ESPN cable multiplex and other Disney-owned channels for about two weeks last year.
Disney executives are cutting costs where they can as traditional pay TV platforms continue to experience higher churn, or “cord cutting,” that has chipped away at distribution fees charged to cable and satellite companies. ESPN has its own direct-to-consumer plan, called ESPN Unlimited, that charges $30 per month for the cable multiplex plus some streaming-exclusive games.
Reports indicate ESPN lost as much as $100 million in distribution and advertising fees during the two-week dispute, which prevented sports fans from watching some National Football League (NFL) and college football games. The matter was settled when Disney agreed to allow YouTube TV to distribute its channels in smaller, genre-based packages, similar to other streaming platforms, and to include ESPN Unlimited in some YouTube TV plans.
ESPN is also preparing to pay more to keep its package of NFL games as the league is expected to trigger a clause in its current broadcast agreements that allows it to renegotiate pricing for those rights. Paramount’s CBS and Fox Corporation are preparing for a similar demand from the NFL.
The layoffs planned at ESPN are likely to impact less than three dozen workers, Ourand reported. The job cuts are not tied to the network’s recent acquisition of NFL Network, whose employees are moving over to ESPN and Disney in the coming weeks.
