What are the biggest takeaways from Disney, YouTube TV deal?
What are the biggest takeaways from Disney, YouTube TV deal?
YouTube TV and Disney now have a new carriage agreement at long last, and we’ll dive into our biggest takeaways from the deal.
The most contentious carriage fight of 2025 has finally come to an end. Disney and YouTube TV now have a new carriage deal which allows Disney-owned channels like ABC, ESPN, FX, National Geographic, and others to be shown on the streaming service once again. Although the terms of the deal aren’t public, such contracts run for multiple years, so it’ll be a while before YouTube TV and Disney have this kind of showdown again.
Now that it’s been a few days since the deal was first announced, The Streamable wants to give our big takeaways on a carriage fight that, despite its length, ended in a fairly standard agreement. Read more of our thoughts on the carriage fight below!
Top 3 takeaways from the YouTube TV and Disney carriage deal
Who has the leverage?
Throughout the carriage negotiations between Disney and YouTube TV, there was a lot of chatter around which side had more leverage over the other. Common consensus seemed to land on YouTube TV, with its 10 million+ customers and the fact that its parent company, Alphabet Inc., has a valuation that most companies can only dream of.
I’m not quite as convinced that the gaudy numbers YouTube TV can boast were the deciding factor in the carriage fight. To be sure, they are a factor, but no matter how many unscientific customer polls I’m shown about who viewers blame most in the dispute, the draw that live sports offer is just too undeniable.
Data from February showed that ESPN's ratings haven't fallen off one bit, despite a pay-TV environment that continues to see customers leave traditional cable and satellite plans in droves. Just last week, ESPN and ABC drew nearly 21 million viewers to the “Monday Night Football” tilt between the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles — without the audience of 10 million YouTube TV subscribers that was supposed to be so humbling to Disney. And that’s all before mentioning the number of alternatives viewers now have to access ESPN programming at a moment’s notice outside of YouTube TV.
Yes, in the big picture, it’s probably true that ESPN needed YouTube TV more than YouTube TV needed ESPN. But I believe the degree to which that’s the case was exaggerated in the course of this carriage dispute, and I think that can be seen in the relative lack of public concessions Disney had to make to get its channels back on YouTube TV’s airwaves.
ESPN Unlimited is a win for YouTube TV
As part of the new carriage agreement, the new ESPN Unlimited streaming service will now be included for YouTube TV subscribers. That gives them access to WWE premium live events and a host of innovative features that are included with the ESPN Unlimited subscription, which normally costs $30 per month on its own.
YouTube TV subscribers already get access to the ESPN linear channel content that’s included with the ESPN Unlimited service as well, and the inclusion of the streaming service at no extra cost can’t be seen as a major win for YouTube TV in and of itself. After all, DIRECTV, Fubo, Spectrum TV, and other services now offer ESPN Unlimited at no extra cost to large portions of their pay-TV customer bases as well.
But in the future, ESPN Unlimited content will be embedded inside the YouTube TV app, which is definitely a bonus for subscribers who won’t have to switch between apps to watch the sports they want. That type of functionality could continue to give YouTube TV an edge over the competition, particularly if the two sides successfully marry the best features of their multiview functions on the YouTube TV app.
The YouTube TV price is going up
About a month ago, we wrote up our thoughts on which streamers would raise prices next. YouTube TV was one of the streamers we identified as the most likely to raise subscription rates in the near future, thanks to new carriage agreements with Fox and NBC — both of which came down to the wire, though neither led to a blackout in the end.
That was before the Disney negotiations, and while none of the financial terms of these deals are publicly available, YouTube TV is paying more for all of these channels than it was previously. Those costs will be passed to the consumer eventually, and the news of a price increase on YouTube TV will almost certainly be handed down before a major programming event — the start of the NFL playoffs, perhaps? — in order to make the decision difficult for subscribers.
It’s also worth noting that YouTube TV costs $7 per month less than DIRECTV and Hulu + Live TV’s equivalent channel packages. Those are two major competitors in the marketplace, and it feels like an upward correction on YouTube TV’s part is inevitable at this point.
YouTube TV
YouTube TV is a live TV streaming service with more than 60 channels for $82.99/month. This plan includes local channels 32 of the top 35 cable channels, and regional sports networks (RSNs) in select markets. The base plan includes more than 100 live channels, including major broadcast networks like ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC, as well as popular cable channels such as ESPN, CNN, FX, USA Network, and TNT. Local channels are included in most markets, making YouTube TV a full replacement for traditional cable for many viewers.