Disney asks YouTube TV to restore ABC for election coverage

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Millions of YouTube TV customers may not be able to watch “Monday Night Football” or ABC News’ election coverage because of an ongoing dispute with Disney, which has now lasted for over a week.

Tonight, football fans can watch the Dallas Cowboys take on the Arizona Cardinals on Monday Night Football. Tomorrow brings several important elections, including the race for New York City mayor, as well as gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey. Californians will also be voting on Proposition 50, which could allow the state to redraw its congressional districts to benefit the Democratic party.

Disney and Google are trying to resolve a dispute after negotiations broke down last week regarding access to Disney’s TV channels on YouTube TV. Disney has asked for a temporary pause in the conflict while they work things out.

Even though we haven’t been able to reach an agreement with YouTube TV, which caused the current channel outage, we’ve asked them to bring ABC back on air just for Election Day. We want to make sure people can get the news and information they need, and we hope YouTube TV will do this for their subscribers as a temporary fix while we continue negotiations for a reasonable deal, ” a Disney representative stated on Monday.

A Google spokesperson was not immediately available for a comment.

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YouTube TV subscribers—around 10 million of them—temporarily lost access to channels like ESPN and ABC, which are owned by Disney. This happened during a busy time for sports, including college football and a Monday Night Football game featuring the Cardinals and Cowboys.

ABC’s “World News Tonight With David Muir” is one of television’s highest rated programs.

YouTube TV subscribers – over 10 million of them – can no longer watch ESPN, ABC, and other channels owned by Disney. This happened late Thursday because YouTube TV and Disney couldn’t agree on how much YouTube TV should pay to carry those channels, resulting in a major disruption for viewers.

Disney and YouTube TV spent weeks disagreeing about how much Google should pay to show Disney’s channels, like FX, Disney Junior, and National Geographic. YouTube TV, which is now a major TV streaming service, didn’t want to meet Disney’s price requests, and that’s why viewers are currently without these channels.

YouTube TV no longer has the rights to show Disney channels because their previous agreement ended.

YouTube acknowledged that the situation is frustrating for its customers. In a recent statement, a spokesperson said they are still asking Disney to collaborate with them to find a reasonable solution and bring Disney’s channels back to YouTube TV.

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After ten days of a channel blackout on DirecTV and U-Verse, Walt Disney Co. suggested a temporary easing of tensions, at least for the day.

YouTube announced that if the service disruption lasts a significant amount of time, they will give subscribers a $20 credit.

YouTube TV is currently missing Spanish-language channels owned by TelevisaUnivision due to a disagreement that’s been ongoing for over a month. Televisa has reached out to prominent political figures, including President Trump and the head of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, to try and resolve the issue.

Following a disagreement over channel fees that led to Disney channels being removed from DirecTV last year, Disney proposed offering DirecTV customers access to its ABC coverage of the only presidential debate featuring President Trump and then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

DirecTV thought ABC’s plan to stream the debate was mostly for show. In response, DirecTV asked Disney to simply make all of its channels widely available instead.

That fee dispute resulted in a 13-day blackout on DirecTV, one that was resolved a few days later.

Heightened tensions in the television industry have led to numerous blackouts.

In 2023, Disney and Charter Communications couldn’t reach an agreement on a new contract, causing Disney channels to be unavailable on Spectrum for ten days. A similar situation happened in 2013 when Time Warner Cable customers lost access to CBS channels for almost a month.

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Disney removed its channels from DirecTV and U-Verse right before the start of a popular USC-LSU football game on Sunday. DirecTV is giving customers account credits to make up for the loss of channels, which is happening as disagreements increase between TV companies and content providers.

As a big fan of both sports and TV, I’m seeing a real battle going on right now. Companies like Disney are trying to charge more for their channels because sports rights – things like NFL and NBA games – are getting super expensive. But providers like YouTube TV are fighting back, trying to keep our monthly bills from going through the roof. It’s a tricky situation, and honestly, I’m hoping they can find a solution that doesn’t mean I have to pay a fortune to watch my favorite teams!

Over the past ten years, more than 40 million households have cancelled their traditional cable or satellite TV service. Many of these viewers are now opting for smaller, more affordable streaming options. YouTube TV has gained a lot of these customers, particularly those who were unhappy with providers like DirecTV, Charter Spectrum, and Comcast. As a result, YouTube TV is now one of the biggest TV providers in the country, ranking third nationally.

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2025-11-03 22:33