Disney Channels Pulled From YouTube TV

Disney-owned channels including ESPN, ABC, FX, National Geographic, Disney Channel and others were pulled from YouTube TV after their carriage agreement expired when the companies failed to reach a renewal by the Oct. 30/31 deadline. YouTube TV says Disney demanded costly economic terms that would raise subscriber prices and advantage Disney’s own live-TV products such as Hulu + Live TV and Fubo, while Disney accuses Google/YouTube of refusing to pay fair rates and using market power to undercut competition. The blackout removes live sports, local news and entertainment and has deleted affected programs from some subscribers’ DVR libraries, disrupting coverage of the NFL, college football and the NBA during a key sports stretch. Negotiations are ongoing with no timeline for resolution; YouTube TV says it has offered a $20 credit if Disney content remains unavailable “for an extended period,” and Disney urges fair compensation for its programming. The dispute affects the service’s roughly 8–9 million subscribers and is the latest carriage fight for YouTube TV after recent standoffs with Fox, NBCUniversal, Paramount/CBS and TelevisaUnivision, forcing some customers to seek Disney content on the company’s own platforms at additional cost.