YouTube, Disney
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Disney, YouTube TV reach distribution deal
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Disney's channels have been blocked from YouTube TV since Oct. 30 as the two companies negotiate a new carriage deal.
ESPN and other Disney-owned channels will be returning to YouTube TV following a new agreement announced Friday. More than 20 channels went dark on YouTube TV on October 31st, but two weeks later — and after CEOs Bob Iger and Sundar Pichai reportedly got more involved — the companies have reached a deal.
Disney has its quarterly earnings scheduled for Thursday, which could be a potential impetus for a deal to be completed.
More than two weeks after having its channels go dark on the streaming TV service, Disney has resolved its big, expensive carriage fight with Google’s YouTube TV. Driven by the only pressure that actually seems to get anything done in American life—the fear that a percentage of the population might be asked to go without college and Monday Night Football for a desperate handful of days—the two giants have come to an agreement on how much YouTube will pay to offer Disney’s various channels to its ever-growing number of subscribers.
U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan has stepped up a push to pass federal legislation that would, if adopted, force cable companies to refund customers who aren’t able to watch the channels they
While Disney stocks dipped after the call, partly in response to the YouTube TV outlook, Iger said that a strong lineup of movies through the rest of 2025 will likely bolster the entertainment division’s income overall and offset any potential future loss from the prolonged fight.
An ongoing dispute between YouTube TV and Disney means millions of YouTube TV subscribers are unable to access Disney programming, including ESPN's college football games and popular ABC shows.