ABC, ESPN & Other Disney Networks Go Dark On YouTube TV Before Contract Officially Expires

UPDATED with networks darkish: ABC, ESPN and different Disney networks have gone darkish on YouTube TV on account of a carriage dispute.

In a departure from {industry} protocol, the sign went down shortly after 11:15 p.m. ET, which was earlier than the official expiration of the businesses’ present distribution settlement at midnight. Sources accustomed to the dealings between the businesses informed Deadline that YouTube required extra time operationally to wind down service and likewise notify clients.

The long-gestating and rancorous dispute is now depriving about 10 million YouTube TV subscribers of Thursday prime-time programming on ABC and is threatening faculty soccer and different main sports activities telecasts.

Whereas carriage battles are nothing new within the TV {industry}, the involvement of a serious tech firm on this one has given the battle a barely completely different really feel. When the networks went darkish Thursday, as an alternative of a typical placeholder graphic explaining to subscribers why their desired channels weren’t there, Disney networks merely disappeared from customers’ “House” and “Reside” tabs regardless of earlier viewing historical past. Searches of Disney reveals generate a tile however no hyperlink to observe them stay.

Not like conventional pay-TV distributors, YouTube TV makes use of algorithms and know-how to floor programming a subscriber will wish to watch, feeding them their favorites in order to all however eradicate old school channel browsing.

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ABC, ESPN and different Disney networks had been approaching a blackout on YouTube TV late Thursday, which might deprive about 10 million subscribers of faculty soccer, the NBA and different programming.

The businesses have been negotiating actively in current weeks, even after Disney warned viewers of a possible blackout, however they continue to be at odds. The present settlement is about to run out at midnight Japanese time on Thursday.

“Sadly, Google’s YouTube TV has chosen to disclaim their subscribers the content material they worth most by refusing to pay honest charges for our channels, together with ESPN and ABC,” Disney stated in an announcement supplied to Deadline. “With a $3 trillion market cap, Google is utilizing its market dominance to eradicate competitors and undercut the industry-standard phrases we’ve efficiently negotiated with each different distributor. We all know how irritating that is for YouTube TV subscribers and stay dedicated to working towards a decision as rapidly as attainable.”

A YouTube spokesperson informed Deadline in an announcement, “Final week, Disney used the specter of a blackout on YouTube TV as a negotiating tactic to power deal phrases that may increase costs on our clients. They’re now following by way of on that menace, suspending their content material on YouTube TV. This choice instantly harms our subscribers whereas benefiting their very own stay TV merchandise, together with Hulu + Reside TV and Fubo. We all know it is a irritating and disappointing consequence for our subscribers and we proceed to induce Disney to work with us constructively to succeed in a good settlement that restores their networks to YouTube TV.”

If Disney programming stays off YouTube TV “for an prolonged time period,” YouTube stated, with out being extra particular, subscribers shall be provided a $20 credit score towards their payments.

The flare-up with Disney is the fifth such distribution tangle between YouTube TV and a serious distributor in 2025 and the fourth in three months. Eleventh-hour agreements with NBCUniversal, Paramount and Fox Corp. saved these networks on the air, however Hispanic broadcast community Univision has been darkish for the reason that finish of September.

Disney networks have gone darkish in contract disputes with Constitution, DirecTV, Sling and YouTube TV over the previous 4 years. The Constitution rift gained explicit visibility within the media enterprise as a result of it concerned the No. 1 cable operator within the U.S. and the broadcaster of faculty soccer and U.S. Open tennis simply as these occasions had been unfolding. An settlement, seen as a template for future offers spanning linear and streaming, was reached after 10 days and simply hours earlier than Monday Night time Soccer kicked off its season on ESPN and ABC.

When it comes to programming, YouTube TV subscribers stand to overlook out on a noteworthy slate of faculty soccer on Saturday, together with a matchup of two ranked groups, Vanderbilt and Texas. Video games involving top-ranked faculties Georgia, Ole Miss and Miami are additionally on the schedule. Prime-time sequence throughout ABC and different networks, amongst them ABC’s Dancing with the Stars and Shark Tank and FX’s The Lowdown would additionally vanish, although they are often seen on streaming. Dancing airs stay on Disney+, whereas it, together with Shark Tank, The Lowdown and lots of different reveals air the day after linear premiere on Hulu.

Disney has prioritized streaming even because it has determined to retain its linear TV networks after public musings by CEO Bob Iger in 2023 that they “will not be core” to the corporate’s technique. Because it maintains Disney+ and Hulu, the corporate additionally launched a brand new ESPN subscription streaming outlet final August, which incorporates entry to greater than a dozen linear channels together with a raft of streaming-only programming and options. A number of pay-TV companions have agreed to permit their subscribers to authenticate and entry ESPN’s new app totally free, however YouTube TV is amongst a number of notable operators with out that perk for subscribers.

A number of {industry} sources concerned with these disputes and the present stand-off with Disney say YouTube TV has been making an attempt to leverage its progress and standing as a pure tech supplier of pay-TV in every set of negotiations. In a number of situations, YouTube TV has sought rights to “ingest” programming from media corporations’ streaming companies into its primary consumer interface. For media corporations making an attempt to nurture direct-to-consumer companies on the similar time they handle the decline of their conventional linear networks, it’s the definition of an existential menace.

With the Disney discussions, sources concerned within the talks inform Deadline that whereas ingestion has surfaced as an “ask” by YouTube, the principle supply of pressure is a disagreement over the quantity of the charges YouTube TV ought to pay to hold the networks.

Whereas it may at all times be coincidence, two consequential items of enterprise with relevance to the Disney-YouTube TV talks had been concluded this week on the eve of the deadline. The primary was the closing of Disney’s acquisition of 70% of Fubo, with the mixture of its pay-TV footprint and that of Hulu + Reside TV making a beefed-up rival to YouTube TV. Hulu Reside and Fubo collectively have about 6 million subscribers in North America, rating the mixed entity No. 6 amongst pay-TV distributors.

The second growth was a settlement within the lawsuit filed by Disney towards YouTube final June over the tech firm’s hiring of Justin Connolly, a former longtime distribution govt at Disney and ESPN. A decide sided with YouTube, declining to categorise it as poaching, however the events however reached a settlement. Connolly was showing publicly on behalf of Disney as not too long ago as mid-Might, telling Deadline about early discussions with YouTube a few distribution renewal. Now, he sits on the opposite facet of the bargaining desk.