Overnight, YouTube TV emailed all of its subscribers to let them know that ESPN and ABC channels are no longer available on the platform, as of October 30, 2025. Why is that? Well, Disney and YouTube TV are in the middle of a carriage dispute, likely about fees.
You see, every time one of these contracts come up, the content provider (Disney, NBCU, Paramount, etc) all try to squeeze as much money as they can out of the carrier (YouTube TV, Comcast, Spectrum, etc). And YouTube TV is looking to get fair rates, versus paying what bigger companies like Comcast would have to pay.
YouTube TV and Disney will likely come to an agreement pretty soon. This happened the last time the contract was up, though it was later in the year, in late December, so a bit surprising that the contract is up for renewal now. But that outage only lasted about 2 days. So we’d expect a similar time-frame here. Keep in mind that there’s more for Disney to lose here versus YouTube TV.
YouTube TV, for its part, is going to offer customers a $20 credit if the channels are off of its platform for an extended period of time.
Why do these disputes keep happening?
Let’s clear up some myths here. While it seems like these carriage disputes only happen to YouTube TV, that is far from the truth. This happens with every single cable company and live TV streamer. YouTube TV has a louder audience, however.
Google has noted that they are not going to “agree to terms that disadvantage our members while benefitting Disney’s own live TV products.” Which is a problem in the industry now. NBCU and Disney both make the content and also deliver it with Hulu + Live TV and Comcast Cable. YouTube TV doesn’t make the content, they simply deliver it.
Content providers like Disney continue to overpay for content, and try to pass those costs down to the carrier like YouTube TV, and Google won’t have it. Good for Google for sticking up for the consumer here.
Here are the channels that will be removed until a deal is reached:
- ABC
- ESPN
- ESPN2
- Freeform
- FX
- FXX
- Disney Junior
- SEC Network
- Nat Geo
- Nat Geo Wild
- Disney Channel
- ESPNU
- FXM
- ABC News Live
- ACC Network
- Disney XD
- Localish
- ESPNews
- ESPN Deportes (Spanish Plan)
- Baby TV Español (Spanish Plan)
- Nat Geo Mundo (Spanish Plan)
The post Disney Just Pulled ESPN and ABC From YouTube TV — Here’s Why It’s a Big Deal appeared first on Android Headlines.
