UPDATED with networks dark: ABC, ESPN and other Disney networks have gone dark on YouTube TV due to a carriage dispute.
In a departure from industry protocol, the signal went down shortly after 11:15 p.m. ET, which was before the official expiration of the companies’ current distribution agreement at midnight. Sources familiar with the dealings between the companies told Deadline that YouTube required additional time operationally to wind down service and also notify customers.
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 college football and other major sports telecasts.
While carriage battles are nothing new in the TV industry, the involvement of a major tech company in this one has given the battle a slightly different feel. When the networks went dark Thursday, instead of a typical placeholder graphic explaining to subscribers why their desired channels weren’t there, Disney networks simply disappeared from users’ “Home” and “Live” tabs despite previous viewing history. Searches of Disney shows generate a tile but no link to watch them live.
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Unlike traditional pay-TV distributors, YouTube TV uses algorithms and technology to surface programming a subscriber will want to watch, feeding them their favorites so as to all but eliminate old-fashioned channel surfing.
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ABC, ESPN and other Disney networks were approaching a blackout on YouTube TV late Thursday, which would deprive about 10 million subscribers of college football, the NBA and other programming.
The companies have been negotiating actively in recent weeks, even after Disney warned viewers of a potential blackout, but they remain at odds. The current agreement is set to expire at midnight Eastern time on Thursday.
“Unfortunately, Google’s YouTube TV has chosen to deny their subscribers the content they value most by refusing to pay fair rates for our channels, including ESPN and ABC,” Disney said in a statement provided to Deadline. “With a $3 trillion market cap, Google is using its market dominance to eliminate competition and undercut the industry-standard terms we’ve successfully negotiated with every other distributor. We know how frustrating this is for YouTube TV subscribers and remain committed to working toward a resolution as quickly as possible.”
A YouTube spokesperson told Deadline in a statement, “Last week, Disney used the threat of a blackout on YouTube TV as a negotiating tactic to force deal terms that would raise prices on our customers. They’re now following through on that threat, suspending their content on YouTube TV. This decision directly harms our subscribers while benefiting their own live TV products, including Hulu + Live TV and Fubo. We know this is a frustrating and disappointing outcome for our subscribers and we continue to urge Disney to work with us constructively to reach a fair agreement that restores their networks to YouTube TV.”
If Disney programming remains off YouTube TV “for an extended period of time,” YouTube said, without being more specific, subscribers will be offered a $20 credit toward their bills.
The flare-up with Disney is the fifth such distribution tangle between YouTube TV and a major distributor in 2025 and the fourth in three months. Eleventh-hour agreements with NBCUniversal, Paramount and Fox Corp. kept those networks on the air, but Hispanic broadcast network Univision has been dark since the end of September.
Disney networks have gone dark in contract disputes with Charter, DirecTV, Sling and YouTube TV over the past four years. The Charter rift gained particular visibility in the media business because it involved the No. 1 cable operator in the U.S. and the broadcaster of college football and U.S. Open tennis just as those events were unfolding. An agreement, seen as a template for future deals spanning linear and streaming, was reached after 10 days and just hours before Monday Night Football kicked off its season on ESPN and ABC.
In terms of programming, YouTube TV subscribers stand to miss out on a noteworthy slate of college football on Saturday, including a matchup of two ranked teams, Vanderbilt and Texas. Games involving top-ranked schools Georgia, Ole Miss and Miami are also on the schedule. Prime-time series across ABC and other networks, among them ABC’s Dancing with the Stars and Shark Tank and FX’s The Lowdown would also vanish, though they can be seen on streaming. Dancing airs live on Disney+, while it, along with Shark Tank, The Lowdown and many other shows air the day after linear premiere on Hulu.
Disney has prioritized streaming even as it has decided to retain its linear TV networks after public musings by CEO Bob Iger in 2023 that they “may not be core” to the company’s strategy. As it maintains Disney+ and Hulu, the company also launched a new ESPN subscription streaming outlet last August, which includes access to more than a dozen linear channels along with a raft of streaming-only programming and features. A few pay-TV partners have agreed to allow their subscribers to authenticate and access ESPN’s new app for free, but YouTube TV is among several notable operators without that perk for subscribers.
Multiple industry sources involved with those disputes and the current stand-off with Disney say YouTube TV has been trying to leverage its growth and status as a pure tech provider of pay-TV in each set of negotiations. In multiple instances, YouTube TV has sought rights to “ingest” programming from media companies’ streaming services into its main user interface. For media companies trying to nurture direct-to-consumer businesses at the same time they manage the decline of their traditional linear networks, it’s the definition of an existential threat.
With the Disney discussions, sources involved in the talks tell Deadline that while ingestion has surfaced as an “ask” by YouTube, the main source of tension is a disagreement over the amount of the fees YouTube TV should pay to carry the networks.
While it could always be coincidence, two consequential pieces of business with relevance to the Disney-YouTube TV talks were concluded this week on the eve of the deadline. The first was the closing of Disney’s acquisition of 70% of Fubo, with the combination of its pay-TV footprint and that of Hulu + Live TV creating a beefed-up rival to YouTube TV. Hulu Live and Fubo together have about 6 million subscribers in North America, ranking the combined entity No. 6 among pay-TV distributors.
The second development was a settlement in the lawsuit filed by Disney against YouTube last June over the tech company’s hiring of Justin Connolly, a former longtime distribution executive at Disney and ESPN. A judge sided with YouTube, declining to classify it as poaching, but the parties nevertheless reached a settlement. Connolly was appearing publicly on behalf of Disney as recently as mid-May, telling Deadline about early discussions with YouTube about a distribution renewal. Now, he sits on the other side of the bargaining table.