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Alphabet And Disney On Friday, they announced they had reached a deal to restore ABC and ESPN content to Google’s YouTube TV.
The deal comes after a two-week standoff between the two companies that began on October 31. The standoff resulted in the absence of many live sporting events, including college football games and two Monday Night Football games, on the popular streaming service.
“We are pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement with Disney that preserves the value of our service for our subscribers and the future flexibility of our offerings,” YouTube said in a statement. “Subscribers should see ABC, ESPN and FX return to their service throughout the day, along with any recordings that were previously in their library. We apologize for the disruption and appreciate our subscribers’ patience while we negotiate on their behalf.”
Disney Entertainment co-chairmen Alan Bergman and David Waldman, along with ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro, said in a statement that the deal reflects “how audiences choose to watch” entertainment.
“We are pleased that our networks were restored in time for fans to enjoy the many exciting programming options this weekend, including college football,” they said.
More than 20 Disney-owned channels have been removed from YouTube TV, which this week was offering its subscribers $20 credits due to the dispute. Besides ABC and ESPN, other unavailable networks included FX, NatGeo, Disney Channel and Freeform.
The main sticking point between the two companies was the rate Disney charged YouTube TV for its networks. Disney’s most profitable channel, ESPN, charges more than $10 per month per pay-TV subscriber, higher than any other network in the United States, CNBC previously reported.
This is not the first conflict this year between YouTube and traditional media.
NBCUniversal content was nearly removed from YouTube TV before the companies reached an agreement in October, preventing the removal of shows like “Sunday Night Football” and “America’s Got Talent.”
YouTube TV also found itself in a bind with Fox in August, it nearly led to the disappearance of Fox News, Fox Sports and other Fox channels just before the start of the college football season. Both parties managed to reach an agreement to avoid a power outage.
YouTube said it has the option to offer future programming packages with Disney and other partners.
Disney said access to select live and on-demand programming from ESPN Unlimited, which includes content from ESPN+ and new content on its all-inclusive digital service coming later this year, will be available on YouTube TV for base plan subscribers at no additional cost by the end of 2026.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC in Comcast’s planned spinoff of Versant.
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