No Monday Night Football? The Ongoing Dispute Between Disney and YouTube TV
ESPN, ABC, FX and all the others DisneyOwned channels are still not available on YouTube TVas the two companies continue their fight for contracts, with no end to the standoff in sight.
The disagreement stems from the “distribution fees” that Google pays Disney to broadcast its channels on YouTube TV. Disney has found itself in similar negotiations with other broadcasters in the past, including Spectrum/Charter Cable in 2023 And DirecTV in 2024.
Disney asked YouTube TV to reinstate its ABC channel for coverage of Tuesday’s U.S. election, but YouTube TV rejected the request on Monday. In a blog post, YouTube said offering a channel for only 24 hours would “confuse customers who might briefly see ABC on YouTube TV only to lose it again shortly after.”
YouTube went a step further in its rejection message, noting that viewers have many options for following election news on YouTube TV, and commenting: “during the last two days of the US election, the vast majority of connected YouTube TV subscribers chose not to watch ABC.” Ouch.
Instead, YouTube TV offered to “immediately restore the Disney channels our customers watch: ABC and the ESPN networks, while we continue negotiations.”
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Disney says YouTube TV doesn’t pay enough to carry its channels. Google-owned YouTube TV has the largest number of subscribers of any other Internet TV provider at over 9 million. Hulu, owned by Disney, comes in second with 4.3 million subscribers thanks to its Hulu + Live TV offering.
Which Disney channels have been removed from YouTube TV?
Football fans aren’t the only viewers left out by the loss of YouTube TV’s Disney channels. Here are all the channels that have been removed from the streaming service:
- ABC
- ABC News Live
- ACC Network
- Baby TV Español (Spanish plan)
- Disney Channel
- Disney Junior
- DisneyXD
- ESPN
- ESPN deports (Spanish plan)
- ESPNews
- ESPNU
- ESPN2
- Free form
- Effects
- FXM
- FXX
- Localist
- Nat Geo
- Nat Geo Mundo (Spanish Map)
- Nat Géo Sauvage
- SEC Network
When could Disney channels be restored to YouTube TV?
As in previous disputes with Disney, the negotiations are secret, although the two companies snipe at each other on social media and online. Judging by Disney’s contract disputes from previous years – Sling TV in 2022, Spectrum/Charter in 2023 and DirecTV in 2024 – the outage might only last a few days longer, but Google has considerably more negotiating power than these other platforms.
On Thursday, October 30, YouTube TV posted on X: “Members, when we renew our contracts with our network partners, we advocate for fair pricing to give you the best TV experience.” The service also said it would offer subscribers a $20 credit “if their content is unavailable for an extended period of time.” You can find updates on the litigation on this YouTube TV page.
“Google’s YouTube TV channel has chosen to deny its subscribers the content they love most by refusing to pay fair rates for our channels, including ESPN and ABC,” Disney said in a statement to CNBC.
In a memo to employees Friday and also reported by CNBC, Disney accused YouTube TV of removing “previously recorded shows and events from their subscribers’ libraries.”
“YouTube TV and its owner, Google, are not interested in reaching a fair agreement with us,” Disney Entertainment co-chairmen Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, along with ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro, said in the memo. “Instead, they want to use their extraordinary power and resources to eliminate competition and devalue the very content that helped them grow their service.”
Disney is also asking its viewers to ask YouTube TV to resume broadcasting via keepmynetworks.com.
How can YouTube TV subscribers watch football games during the Disney outage?
YouTube TV subscribers with an aerial TV antenna can still watch Monday Night Football and college football games on ABC if they live close enough to receive a live broadcast signal from a local ABC affiliate.
Other than that, the only real option for viewers to watch MNF at home is to subscribe to another service that offers ABC and ESPN, including ESPN+, Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, Fubo, or DirectTV Stream. Sling TV offers both a $5 day pass This could be a good option for viewers who want to watch a specific game, or a $10 weekend pass that would give you access to college football games on Saturday and the NFL on Sunday.
For those looking for soccer games at local venues, this handy app can help you find places that are showing the games.
Correction, November 5: An earlier version of this story did not note that Sling TV day passes can be used to watch local ABC channels only in certain markets.
