What you need to know
- YouTube TV and Disney’s stalemate sees no change, as both sides find fault in the other.
- YouTube TV claims Disney has been “unnecessarily aggressive and assertive,” while Disney states the former has blown things out of proportion.
- Viewers lost 21 of Disney’s channels last week, including ABC and ESPN, as neither side could reach a content agreement before the October 30 deadline.
YouTube TV consumers will undoubtedly know that Disney’s channels vanished late last week; however, the two have continued talks, albeit a little rocky.
There are two sides to this, as reported by Deadline, as YouTube TV claims Disney has been “unnecessarily aggressive and assertive.” According to the publication, this is in regard to the “economics” of pay-TV, per an executive the post cites. The exec told Deadline in a statement that, regarding Disney, “There are aspects of their portfolio that are doing well on our platform.” However, everything isn’t so clean cut, as they add that their “broad portfolio” may contain channels where viewership may “decline” or become “non-existent.”
It’s because of this thinking that the exec reportedly informed the publication that Disney was expecting “steep carriage fees,” despite its viewership dropping a bit in recent years. Disney has also reportedly dismissed this statement, saying that it’s actually tried to offer services that “lower” costs for the consumer.
Apparently, there were some rumors about Disney potentially using its acquisition of Fubo, as well as Hulu Live, as “leverage” for its current negotiations with YouTube TV. A Disney executive reportedly cut down that theory, stating YouTube TV was “intentionally misrepresenting the situation.”
From the recent reports, it seems clear that consumers are going to have to continue waiting for a YouTube TV, Disney agreement. Even the fate of ESPN on the platform is in the air, which doesn’t bode well for sports lovers.
No middle ground, Disney’s channels disappear
Android Central has reached out to YouTube TV and Disney about the latest stalemate report and will update this post if we hear back.
Last week, we were rapidly approaching the deadline for a content deal between YouTube TV and Disney. The former claimed it had entered negotiations with the latter in order to keep channels like ABC and ESPN for its subscribers. However, similar to what we’ve heard today in the recent report, YouTube TV claimed Disney’s proposals would’ve led to a price hike for viewers.
Still, Disney pointed the blame at YouTube TV, stating it was “exploiting its position at the expense of their own customers.”
Both sides had until October 30 at 11:59 pm ET to reach some sort of middle ground, but that didn’t happen. With the contract up, viewers lost 21 channels, including ABC and ESPN. YouTube TV and Disney delivered their own statements, each defending their stances, which only lengthens this blackout for consumers. According to Disney, “Google is using its market dominance to eliminate competition and undercut the industry-standard terms we’ve successfully negotiated with every other distributor.”
It’s a similar sentiment we’ve heard Deadline report from a Disney exec.
