YouTube TV subscribers could soon see a package of Disney-affiliated sports channels leaving the app.
The development comes amid apparently fraught contract negotiations between the popular streaming service and the content giant, whose suite of properties includes sports networks such as ESPN and the SEC Network, news-oriented networks such as local ABC affiliates and ABC News Live, and entertainment networks like Disney Channel, FX, and National Geographic.
The tense contract talks have led to increasingly dire-sounding messaging from both parties.
During at least a couple commercial breaks throughout Monday night's Rams-Cardinals game, YouTube TV subscribers were prompted with warnings that ESPN could soon be gone and directing them to a website -- "keepmyespn.com" -- for more information.
Meanwhile, YouTube TV has vowed to cut its monthly fee by $15 if it loses the Disney networks. It called Disney an "important partner" but said the price must be right.
Disney is an important partner for us. We are in active conversations with them and are working hard to keep their content on YouTube TV. Our ask of Disney, as with all of our partners, is to treat YouTube TV like any other TV provider – by offering us the same rates that services of a similar size pay, across Disney’s channels for as long as we carry them.
The dispute comes just months after YouTube TV was locked in a showdown with NBC Sports, which produces the weekly Football Night in America, aka Sunday Night Football. A deal was reached at the 11th hour, averting a situation where subscribers would be forced to look elsewhere for the weekly matchup.
According to Awful Announcing, ESPN's last significant contract dispute came in late 2019, involving AT&T and its DirecTV subscribers. A deal was eventually reached before any games were removed from the air, the outlet reported.
But the stakes are especially high this time around, with the college football bowl season and final month of the NFL regular season about to take center stage on the sports calendar.
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