Deadline has reported that YouTube TV’s recent battle with Disney over carriage rights has left many college football fans unable to watch their favorite teams. ESPN has addressed the issue by making College Gameday available on their mobile application and on X. Available on X’s live video function, fans have access to both replays and bonus content.
According to Deadline, ESPN is one of the Disney networks that is no longer available on YouTube TV. Disney and ESPN have presented a unified front, with both Disney co-chairman Dana Walden and Alan Bergman joining ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro, who stated in a company memo that YouTube TV and Google were “not interested in achieving a fair deal with us.”
Deadline has reported that they expounded, “Instead, they want to use their power and extraordinary resources to eliminate competition and devalue the very content that helped them build their service.”
According to Deadline, YouTube has stated that Disney executives have been “unnecessarily aggressive and assertive” in negotiations. Disney responded to these statements by saying that YouTube TV is “intentionally misrepresenting the situation.”
Mxdwn has reported that while carriage negotiations are standard procedure, this particular disagreement poses unprecedented issues. Google, YouTube TV’s parent company, has a nearly unlimited bankroll, with the majority of its revenue streams unrelated to television. Some believe that this leads to YouTube TV and Google having disproportionate negotiating power.
According to mxdwn, Disney has stated that YouTube is declining to pay market rates for its channels. While YouTube TV has retorted that Disney has used blackout threats to ask for higher carriage fees, which would force prices higher for users.
Via mxdwn, YouTube TV has requested integration of Disney properties into its platform, a move which media companies believe poses danger to their direct-to-consumer business models.