Disney Networks Including ESPN Go Dark on YouTube After Contract Dispute

YouTube TV accuses Disney of proposing terms that disadvantage its members while benefiting its own TV products, in the latest industry stand-off over costs.

A 3D-printed Disney logo in front of the ESPN+ logo, in a photo illustration taken on July 13, 2021. Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters

Disney networks went dark on YouTube after negotiations to reach a licensing deal failed, the companies announced separately on Thursday.

The standoff between the media giants comes amid a wider industry battle over streaming costs and market shares.

YouTube has partnerships with content providers such as Disney, Fox, Paramount, and CNN to offer their channels through its subscription-based streaming service, YouTube TV.

Affected Disney networks include ABC News Live, ABC, ESPN, Nat Geo, FX, Nat Geo Wild, and Disney Channel.

YouTube TV, one of the largest pay-TV distributors in the United States with more than 10 million subscribers, issued a statement on X just before the deal was set to expire at midnight Eastern Time.

The statement from YouTube said that Disney’s proposed terms would raise prices for its subscribers and benefit Disney’s own live TV services, including Hulu + Live TV.

Disney accused YouTube TV of failing to offer fair rates.

A person browses a television menu showing icons for streaming services Netflix and Amazon Prime, in this photo illustration made in Toronto on March 22, 2024. The Canadian Press/Giordano Ciampini

‘Market Dominance’

YouTube has been locked in negotiations this year with a number of firms threatening to pull their media networks from the platform.

“Our contract with Disney has reached its renewal date, and we'll not agree to terms that disadvantage our members while benefiting Disney’s TV products,” the YouTube TV statement said.

“With a $3 trillion market cap, Google is using its market dominance to eliminate competition and undercut the industry-standard terms we’ve successfully negotiated with every other distributor,” Disney said in a statement.

YouTube TV said it will compensate subscribers with a $20 credit if the Disney networks remain unavailable on the platform for an extended period of time, without specifying how long this would need to be.

The pay-TV platform dropped Spanish-language network Univision last month after a failed contract deal.

Following negotiations, Fox Corporation and YouTube eventually reached a deal in August, averting the possibility that Fox channels would go dark on the streaming platform.

A young woman with a smartphone walks past a billboard advertisement for YouTube in Berlin, Germany, on Sept. 27, 2019. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Previous Disputes

Without disclosing financial details, Fox said in a statement that its full profile of networks—including Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, Fox Sports, and local Fox stations—would be renewed for broadcasting on YouTube TV.

YouTube had said that Fox was asking for fees “far higher” than those paid to other partners producing similar content.

In February, YouTube TV and Paramount Global—which owns channels including CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, and Nickelodeon—renewed their partnership, after negotiations had earlier stalled.

Paramount previously cited “one-sided terms” and “non-market demands” as the chief reasons for stalled negotiations.

YouTube TV has faced other contract distribution disagreements, including a two-day blackout in a dispute with Disney in 2021 that revoked subscriber access to channels such as ABC, ESPN, and FX.

In December 2024, YouTube TV raised its monthly subscription price by $10, from $72.99 to $82.99, more than double the $35 per month that it cost at its launch in 2017.

Frustrated Customers

Subscribers and others commenting on social media expressed frustration with both companies.

One said on X, “Aren’t monopolies illegal? [Disney] wants more money from [YouTubeTV] knowing that people will likely switch to [Hulu], which they own. [The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission,] how do you let this happen?”

Another customer said on X, “This is nothing more than a fight between super rich companies about who gets the bigger cut from the 1000th price hike in the last decade. I’m old enough to remember when [YouTube] TV was $35 a month.”

According to the latest figures from audience analytics company Nielsen, streaming accounted for almost half (47.3 percent) of all TV viewing in July.

Nielsen’s The Gage—which is a monthly snapshot of total streaming, cable, and broadcast consumption through a television screen—found that the streaming share was followed by cable (22.2 percent), broadcast (18.4 percent), and other sources (12.1 percent).

In the competition for streaming, YouTube Main (excluding YouTube TV) set a platform record in July, with 13.4 percent of the viewership, followed by Netflix at 8.8 percent, with the sharpest increase among the different age demographics happening with the 18–24-year-olds.

Nielsen reported in June that streaming had hit a then-record 44.8 percent of total TV usage in May, more than broadcast (20.1 percent) and cable (24.1 percent) combined, adding that if its growth continued, streaming would likely exceed traditional TV viewership as the most popular way to watch shows in the near future.

Reuters and Victoria Friedman contributed to this report