Disney's networks, including ESPN and ABC, are returning to YouTube TV for about 10 million subscribers after a 15-day dispute.
The multiyear deal restores access immediately and adds Disney's new ESPN Unlimited streaming service to the lineup.
Such programmer-distributor clashes are routine but rarely escalate to blackouts—yet this one pitted two media giants against each other in a heated feud. Both accused the other of bad-faith bargaining and misleading the public.
Talks stalled over Disney's demands for higher carriage fees on ESPN and other channels, versus YouTube TV's push for customer-growth-based pricing adjustments.
YouTube TV also claimed Disney favored its own services like Hulu + Live TV with sweeter terms, which Disney denied, insisting YouTube TV had spurned deals accepted by peers of similar scale.
The outage stung both: ESPN and ABC viewership dipped, while YouTube TV lost subscribers to rivals and issued $20 blackout credits to retain others.
Key elements of the agreement include:
- Carriage of Disney’s full linear portfolio including all the ESPN networks, ABC, the Disney-branded channels, Freeform, the FX Networks, and the National Geographic channels
- ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer service (Unlimited Plan) to be made available at no additional cost to YouTube TV subscribers
- Access to a selection of live and on-demand programming from ESPN Unlimited inside YouTube TV
- Select networks to be included in various genre-specific packages
- The ability to include the Disney+, Hulu Bundle as part of select YouTube offerings