YouTube TV and Disney Reach Deal Ending Two-Week Blackout of ESPN, ABC (variety.com) 12
YouTube TV and Disney have ended their two-week carriage standoff, restoring ESPN, ABC, and other Disney networks under a new multiyear deal. Variety reports: Under the new agreement, ESPN's full lineup of sports -- including content from ESPN Unlimited -- will be made available on YouTube TV to base-plan subscribers at no additional cost by the end of 2026. In addition, access to a selection of live and on-demand programming from ESPN Unlimited will be available inside YouTube TV.
The deal also lets YouTube include the Disney+ and Hulu bundle as part of "select YouTube offerings." According to Disney, "select networks" will be included in various genre-specific packages that YouTube TV expects to launch in the future. [...] The deal supersedes their prior distribution agreement, inked in December 2021 after a two-day blackout.
The deal also lets YouTube include the Disney+ and Hulu bundle as part of "select YouTube offerings." According to Disney, "select networks" will be included in various genre-specific packages that YouTube TV expects to launch in the future. [...] The deal supersedes their prior distribution agreement, inked in December 2021 after a two-day blackout.
more systems need the genre-specific packages drop (Score:1)
more systems need the genre-specific packages drop ESPN from basic cable.
More blackouts! Longer blackouts! (Score:1)
The fate of democracy...er I mean television...depends on it. Somehow.
2-0 (Score:1)
I guess I'm 2-0 for recent blackouts. But news, yet seem to have had no effect on me. As if they never even happened!
I wonder what the next one will be. Oh, I know!! The Starbucks strike. No matter how long it goes on, that will be 3-0 for me.
Praise The Gods... (Score:2)
Good for them, I guess (Score:2)
I gave up on YouTube TV and switched to DirectTV streaming a week ago, but I'm glad that they finally came to an agreement anyway.
Maybe I'll switch back someday, but right now I'm saving $5 a month with DirectTV and basically have the same channel package. I don't feel the need to switch back just in time for the next big carrier contract dispute or price increase.
Re: (Score:2)
Having a hard time thinking of something on DirecTV or Disney anything that I'd want.
Regular TV is pretty useless, nothing really interesting there since the educational channels enshittified 20 years ago. For entertainment I have a long list of games and books I don't have time for. Star Wars has turned into Marvelesque mush. I am interested in Zootopia 2, but that's easy enough to torrent.
Re: (Score:3)
Having a hard time thinking of something on DirecTV or Disney anything that I'd want.
This is a key point to all of this live sports issue. A lot of people are not the least interested in sports, but a lot of people are, and it's those interested people who are willing to pay money for linear channels and who attract advertising money. Those interested people happen to number in the tens of millions and are generally much more important financially.
Fuck Disney (Score:2)
Screw Disney (Score:5, Interesting)
Disney/ESPN jacked up their rates on DISH and Sling in 2022, caused DISH and Sling to go without for a while until they caved.
https://www.sportspro.com/broa... [sportspro.com]
"Dish accused Disney of walking away from the negotiating table after demanding a US$1 billion increase in the fee paid for the carrier.
Disney jacked up their rates on DirecTV in 2024, caused DirecTV to go without for a while.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/14... [cnn.com]
DirecTV filed a complaint Saturday with the Federal Communications Commission alleging Disney did not negotiate in good faith as the two sides remain at an impasse on a distribution deal.
“Disney has violated the FCC’s good faith mandates by predicating any licensing agreement on DIRECTV’s waiving any legal claims on Disney’s past, current, or future anticompetitive actions, including its ongoing packaging and minimum penetration demands,” a DirecTV spokesperson told CNN on Sunday.
In the 10-page complaint, DirecTV claimed the negotiations stalled because, “Disney insists on bundling and penetration requirements that a federal district court judge in New York recently found in the context of the ‘Venu’ joint venture to be unlawful, anticompetitive, and ‘bad for consumers.’”
Disney jacked up their rates on both Spectrum and Charter in 2024, caused both Spectrum and Charter customers to go without for a while.
https://www.sportingnews.com/u... [sportingnews.com]
In the document, Charter listed out the following as reasons for the ongoing stalemate between the two sides, putting the blame on Disney:
* The multichannel video product is too expensive and packages don’t meet consumer needs
* Customers are leaving the traditional video ecosystem and losses have accelerated
* We still believe video is an important part of our connectivity offering, but the video product has been devalued and the ecosystem is broken
* Disney – so far – has insisted on a traditional long-term deal with higher rates and limited packaging flexibility
* Charter proposed a model that creates a better value for consumers and the industry
Disney owns Hulu and Fubo, and they WANT to force you onto their platforms.
LMAO Disney crawled (Score:2)
There was no new agreement, Disney flexed and lost. They figured YouTube customers would loudly complain then switch to the new Disney platform. What happened was life just went on with out Disney and they watched their "profit" dry up. YouTube is carrying Disneys' lineup at the same pricepoint they did last year.