YouTube TV May Lose All Disney-Owned Channels, Including ABC Locals, ESPN, Disney Channel, FX, & Nat Geo
If Disney and YouTube TV can’t reach a deal by Friday, December 17th, YouTube TV subscribers may be without more than 17 Disney-owned channels, including local ABC affiliates, Disney Channel, and ESPN.
The channels affected include:
- ABC News Live
- Disney Channel
- Disney Junior
- Disney XD
- Freeform
- FX
- FXX
- FXM
- National Geographic
- National Geographic Wild
- ESPN
- ESPN2
- ESPN3 (by authentication to the ESPN app)
- ESPNU
- ESPNEWS
- ACC Network
- SEC Network
- WABC-TV (ABC New York)
- KABC-TV (ABC Los Angeles)
- WLS-TV (ABC Chicago)
- WPVI-TV (ABC Philadelphia)
- KGO-TV (ABC San Francisco)
- KTRK-TV (ABC Houston)
- WTVD-TV (ABC Raleigh-Durham)
- KFSN-TV (ABC Fresno)
YouTube TV said in a blog post that if they cannot renew the deal, they would drop the price of the service to $49.99 a month (from $64.99) until the two sides can reach a deal.
YouTube TV, we partner with content owners. From time to time, our partnerships need to be renewed to ensure we continue to offer a strong lineup at a competitive and fair price.
We are now in negotiations with Disney to continue distributing their content on YouTube TV. Our deal will expire on Friday, December 17, 2021. We have not yet been able to reach an equitable agreement, so we want to give you a heads-up so that you can understand your choices.
We welcome a renewed agreement provided we can reach equitable terms with Disney. However, if we are unable to reach a deal by Friday, the Disney-owned channels will no longer be available on YouTube TV starting December 17, and we will decrease our monthly price by $15, from $64.99 to $49.99 (while Disney content remains off of our platform).
We would love every member to stay with our service, but we give you the flexibility to pause or cancel your membership at any time. If you want to continue watching some of Disney’s content, consider signing up for their own service, The Disney Bundle, which they offer for $13.99/month and which is subject to its own terms and restrictions.
In a statement to The Streamable, Disney said of the upcoming Friday deadline:
Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution has a highly successful track record of negotiating such agreements with providers of all types and sizes across the country and is committed to working with Google to reach a fair, market-based agreement. We are optimistic that we can reach a deal and continue to provide their YouTube TV customers with our live sporting events and news coverage plus kids, family and general entertainment programming.
Disney-owned channels are available across Live TV Streaming Services, including fuboTV, Hulu Live TV, DIRECTV STREAM, and Sling TV Orange Plan.
| DTV STREAM | Fubo | Hulu | Philo | Sling TV | YouTube | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | Free Trial | Free Trial | Free Trial | Get $10 Off | Sign Up | |||
| $79.99 | $91.99 | $76.99 | $25 | $40 | $40 | $72.99 | ||
| ABC | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - | - | ✓ | ✓ | |
| ABC News Live | - | ✓ | ✓ | - | - | - | ✓ | |
| ACC Network | + $29 | ✓ | ✓ | - | + $11 | - | ✓ | |
| Disney Channel | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - | ✓ | - | ✓ | |
| Disney Junior | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - | + $6 | - | ✓ | |
| Disney XD | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - | + $6 | - | ✓ | |
| ESPN | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - | ✓ | - | ✓ | |
| ESPN2 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - | ✓ | - | ✓ | |
| ESPN3 | - | + $10 | ✓ | - | ✓ | - | ✓ | |
| ESPNEWS | + $15 | + $8 | ✓ | - | + $11 | - | ✓ | |
| ESPNU | + $15 | + $8 | ✓ | - | + $11 | - | ✓ | |
| Freeform | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - | ✓ | - | ✓ | |
| FX | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - | - | ✓ | ✓ | |
| FXM | + $40 | + $8 | ✓ | - | - | + $6 | ✓ | |
| FXX | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - | - | + $6 | ✓ | |
| Nat Geo Wild | + $40 | + $8 | ✓ | - | - | + $6 | ✓ | |
| National Geographic | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - | - | ✓ | ✓ | |
| SEC Network | + $15 | + $8 | ✓ | - | + $11 | - | ✓ | |
In September, YouTube TV had a similar dispute with NBCUniversal over carriage of their local affiliates and cable channels, but were able to reach a deal without the channels going dark.
They were also recently in a carriage dispute with Roku, which prevented new subscribers from downloading the YouTube TV App. The two sides reached a deal last week that saw the app return to the platform.
However, YouTube TV has dropped channels in the past. Most notably, in October 2020 they dropped Bally Sports (which were Fox Sports RSNs at the time), along with Sinclair-owned Tennis Channel and Boston-based RSN NESN.