Google, Disney reach deal to restore ESPN, ABC, others to YouTube TV
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Alphabet And Disney It announced Friday that it had reached an agreement to restore content from ABC and ESPN to Google’s YouTube TV.
The deal follows a two-week standoff between the two companies that began on October 31. The impasse has resulted in numerous live sporting events, including college football games and two Monday Night Football games, not being available on the popular streaming service.
“We are pleased to share that we have reached an agreement with Disney that preserves the value of our service for our subscribers and future flexibility in our offerings,” YouTube said in a statement. “Subscribers should see channels like ABC, ESPN, and FX return to their services within the day and all recordings previously available in their Library. We apologize for this outage and appreciate our subscribers’ patience as we negotiate on their behalf.”
Disney Entertainment co-presidents Alan Bergman and David Waldman and ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement that the deal reflects “how audiences choose to watch entertainment.”
“We are pleased to have our nets repaired in time so fans can enjoy the many great programming options this weekend, including college football,” they said.
More than 20 Disney-owned channels were removed from YouTube TV, which was offering a $20 credit to subscribers this week, due to the dispute. In addition to ABC and ESPN, other networks unavailable included FX, NatGeo, Disney Channel and Freeform.
The main sticking point between the two companies was what Disney charged YouTube TV for its networks. Disney’s most valuable channel, ESPN, charges more than $10 per month per pay-TV subscriber, CNBC previously reported; that’s a higher fee than any other network in the US.
This isn’t the first clash between YouTube and legacy media this year.
Before the companies reached a deal in October, NBCUniversal content was nearly removed from YouTube TV, preventing shows like “Sunday Night Football” and “America’s Got Talent” from being produced.
YouTube TV also found itself in a dilemma Fox In August, this nearly caused Fox News, Fox Sports and other Fox channels to lose service just before the start of the college football season. The two sides reached an agreement to avoid disruption.
YouTube said it has the option for future programming packages with Disney and other partners.
Access to a variety of live and on-demand programming from ESPN Unlimited, which includes ESPN+ content and new content from its all-inclusive digital service, will be available at no additional cost to basic plan subscribers on YouTube TV through the end of 2026, Disney said.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become CNBC’s new parent company, based on Comcast’s planned Versant spinoff.
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