YouTube TV loses over 17 Disney-owned channels in contention

Looks like YouTube will not stop fight with broadcasters and streaming platforms this year. YouTubes last quarrel with Disney over YouTube TV, however, it can feel like a blow to the stomach due to the amount of content it loses.

At midnight on Saturday, YouTube announced in a blog post that it had not reached a new agreement with Disney to keep its content on YouTube TV, the live TV streaming service with more than 85 channels, before the current agreement expired on December 17.. As a result, YouTube TV will lose 17 Disney-owned channels, including big names like ESPN, National Geographic and FX, as well as at least eight local ABC stations.

YouTube stated that it would lower the monthly price for subscribers by $ 15, from $ 64.99 to $ 49.99, while keeping the content off the platform. This price reduction will be applied automatically and requires no further action from customers.

In its blog post, YouTube said they had held “good faith talks” with Disney for several months, but that they were unable to to achieve a “fair deal” despite his best. To be clear, the battle here is about money. YouTube wants Disney to provide it same rates that TV providers of equivalent size salary.

“We know this is frustrating news for our customers, and not what we wanted. We will continue the talks with Disney to defend on your behalf in the hope of restoring their content on YouTube TV,” said YouTube.

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The full list of Disney-owned channels taken from YouTube TV, with the exception of the affected local ABC stations, are included below.

• ABC News Live
• Disney Channel
• Disney Junior
• Disney XD
• Free form
• FX
• FXX
• FXM
• National Geographic
• National Geographic Wild
• ESPN
• ESPN2
• ESPN3 (when authenticating to the ESPN app)
• ESPNU
• NEWS
• SEC network
• ACC network

For customers seeking access to Disney content, YouTube referred them to Disney packages, a $ 13.99 per month subscription offered by Disney that gives users access to Disney +, Hulu and ESPN +. Should YouTube and Disney reach an agreement, YouTube said it would adjust the price accordingly and notify subscribers of the change via email.

Gizmodo contacted Disney to comment on the negotiations with YouTube on Saturday, but did not receive a response upon publication. We will make sure to update this article if we hear back.

In a statement to Variety, Disney said they were ready to reach a “fair deal” as soon as possible.

“We’ve been in ongoing negotiations with Google’s YouTube TV, and unfortunately they have refused to reach a fair agreement with us based on market terms,” ​​Disney said, adding: “We are ready to reach a fair agreement with Google as as soon as possible to minimize the inconvenience to YouTube TV viewers by restoring our networks. We hope Google will join us in this effort. “

From a subscriber’s perspective, YouTube’s frequent fights with others are dizzying and difficult to keep track of. (It buried the hatchet with NBCUniversal in October and ended the feud with Roku earlier this month). More problematic is the fact that access to content can only disappear from one day to the next, like what happened in this case, which means that users have to search for another way to get their content for a good price and complete it difficult registration process again.

Let’s be real: it’s hardly the end of the world, but it’s very annoying. Unfortunately, with the emergence of new streaming platforms left and right, it is likely that these disputes will affect access to our favorite programs for some time.