What you need to know
- Google and Disney’s feud already led to YouTube TV missing out on Monday Night Football on ESPN, and it could lose ABC’s Election Day coverage too.
- Disney asked YouTube TV to reinstate ABC for one day so the public could watch Election Day reporting.
- YouTube TV denied the request, and instead wants Disney to allow it to offer ABC and ESPN indefinitely while the two sides negotiate.
Google’s standoff with Disney over content rights for YouTube TV hit consumers hard Monday, Nov. 3 when subscribers went without Monday Night Football on ESPN. That’s not the only major event coverage YouTube TV users will go without if the two companies can’t come to an agreement. Election Day in the U.S. is today, Nov. 4, and Disney is requesting that YouTube TV restore access to ABC — one of the four major news networks — for one day only as a result.
Google denied that request with a public statement, also sent to Disney leadership, that serves as a counteroffer. The company says Disney’s proposal would “cause customer confusion” by having ABC return for a day and the channel disappearing immediately after. Instead, Google is proposing that Disney restore both ABC and ESPN indefinitely on YouTube TV while the two sides negotiate.
“There are plenty of other options for customers — election news information is very widely available across other broadcast stations and news networks on YouTube TV, as well as on the main YouTube service, for free,” Google’s statement reads. “In fact, on the last two U.S. election days, the vast majority of tuned in YouTube TV subscribers chose not to watch ABC.”
Google’s email emphasizes that it could restore ABC and ESPN on YouTube TV “in hours” if Disney agrees to the proposal, just in time for Election Day coverage. It also claims that ABC could alternatively livestream its coverage for free on YouTube.
Publicly resorting to the same tactic that Disney relied on in past disputes fails to acknowledge the distinction between YouTube and other distribution platforms. As you know, Disney can continue to livestream news information on the ABC News YouTube page, which has 19.1M subscribers, and its ABC local stations can also do so on their YouTube pages.
Google’s response follows the earlier proposal from Disney, which would only see ABC return for 24 hours. In a statement to Deadline, Disney explained its position on the matter, saying it wants to put the negotiations aside for a day for the sake of public interest.
“Despite the impasse that led to the current blackout, we have asked YouTube TV to restore ABC for Election Day so subscribers have access to the information they rely on,” a Disney spokesperson said in the statement to Deadline. “We believe in putting the public interest first and hope YouTube TV will take this small step for their customers while we continue to work toward a fair agreement.”
What happens next?
For now, all Disney content remains unavailable on YouTube TV, and that includes ABC’s Election Day coverage. If that remains to be the case, YouTube TV subscribers would need to tune into the other news networks or access ABC by other means to gain access to its Election Day coverage. For example, Disney’s own Hulu with Live TV subscription offers access to ABC and more.
