YouTube vs. Disney: What’s behind the fight

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YouTube TV customers are bracing for another frustrating weekend.

YouTube TV users—over 10 million of them—haven’t been able to watch ESPN, ABC, and other Disney channels for the past week due to a disagreement between the companies. This has resulted in one of the biggest TV channel outages in years. Instead of popular shows like “College GameDay,” “Monday Night Football,” and “Dancing With the Stars,” viewers are seeing a message saying Disney channels aren’t available.

The dispute started on October 30th when Disney and the other company couldn’t reach an agreement on a new contract for distributing Disney’s channels and ABC stations.

Google, the owner of YouTube, has rejected requests from Disney for higher fees for channels like ESPN and ABC. Disney, a major entertainment company, wants to increase its revenue to fund its content creation, expand its streaming services, and cover the high costs of ESPN’s sports broadcasting rights.

Talks are ongoing, but the two sides remain apart on major issues — prolonging the stalemate.

Nick Newton, a 30-year-old YouTube TV subscriber from the San Francisco area, expressed frustration with major companies constantly competing with each other. He believes the real losers are working-class and middle-class sports fans who rely on games as a way to relax and forget about their everyday problems.

Both companies declined to comment for this article.

This disagreement between YouTube and several TV companies is the most recent in a series of conflicts. Starting in August, Fox, NBCUniversal, and TelevisaUnivision all accused YouTube TV of using its size to unfairly demand better terms.

Here’s a look at what’s driving the escalating tensions:

Google’s growing clout in television

The struggle between Disney and YouTube reflects television’s fast-shifting dynamics.

For years, Disney has had a strong advantage in negotiations with cable and streaming providers. This is largely because they own ESPN, a channel that many sports fans consider essential.

Many programmers, like Disney, designed their distribution agreements to end around important programming events, such as the start of a new NFL season. This timing encouraged quick negotiations, as neither side wanted to risk losing viewers.

YouTube TV is a small part of Alphabet, Google’s parent company. Alphabet made $350 billion last year, mostly from Google search and ads. This financial strength allows YouTube more flexibility in negotiating contracts and waiting for terms they agree with.

According to LightShed Partners analyst Richard Greenfield, the current disagreement isn’t a major issue for Google. He believes YouTube TV could handle losing college football games for a couple of weekends and ‘Monday Night Football’ for two weeks, provided customers don’t cancel their subscriptions.

Disney relies on money from TV commercials and fees paid by cable and satellite providers. The recent week-long disruption has already caused a drop in TV viewership, leading to lower income for the company.

Consumers like YouTube TV

For many years, people have disliked their cable companies, and Disney and other channels have benefited from this in past disagreements. When customers started canceling their service, cable companies were often forced to reach agreements to bring channels back on air and stop losing subscribers.

YouTube is hoping to keep users coming back, especially the many who chose it over more expensive services.

Newton said he plans to continue using YouTube TV, but hopes the current disagreement is resolved quickly and doesn’t last for weeks.

According to Greenfield, Disney is facing a significant challenge. This dispute with cable and streaming providers feels different than previous ones. If Disney doesn’t lose many customers, they could find themselves in a difficult position.

It boils down to power and money

YouTube TV is quickly becoming the most popular TV service in the United States. Experts predict it will surpass industry giants like Spectrum and Comcast in the number of subscribers within the next few years.

During ongoing talks, Google has requested that Disney reduce its fees once YouTube TV gains more subscribers than Comcast and Spectrum. Disney argues that YouTube TV already benefits from favorable rates due to its position in the market, and that Google is attempting to devalue Disney’s content.

Disney executives stated last Friday that Google, which owns YouTube TV, is attempting to stifle competition and undermine the value of the content that made its service successful.

Those familiar with YouTube TV disagree with the idea that it’s not a good partner, pointing out that the service consistently delivers a high-quality experience and generates billions of dollars in annual revenue for Disney through distribution fees.

Disney executives stated in a recent email that their channels are highly valuable and they need to maintain their position to continue offering the sports and entertainment content viewers enjoy. They are simply requesting that YouTube TV pay a fair price for their channels, the same rate they receive from all other providers.

Higher sports rights fees

Disney is requesting higher fees largely due to rapidly increasing costs associated with sports programming.

Disney spends around $2.6 billion each year for the rights to broadcast NBA games, $2.7 billion for the NFL, and $325 million to stream World Wrestling Entertainment. These kinds of sports broadcasting deals have almost doubled in the last ten years, putting financial pressure on traditional TV networks.

Major streaming services like Amazon, Apple, and Netflix have started broadcasting sports, which is increasing costs for traditional television networks.

With so many streaming services competing for viewers, sports fans are feeling the financial pinch, and it seems to be making people increasingly frustrated with the ongoing dispute between YouTube TV and Disney.

Newton recently shared on Twitter that his monthly bill for internet, phone, and TV – including subscriptions like Disney+ and NFL Sunday Ticket (through YouTube TV) – totals $400.

As a lifelong San Francisco 49ers fan, Newton explained he already subscribes to all the major streaming services to watch football. He mentioned needing Netflix, Peacock, Amazon Prime, and many others, adding that he’s reached his limit for paid subscriptions.

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2025-11-07 14:36