Another corporate feud has begun, this time between Disney and Youtube TV, with subscribers caught in the crosshairs. The standoff is over carriage fees, which Youtube TV pays Disney to stream its shows, leading to the removal of all Disney-owned channels from the streaming platform.
Subscribers to Youtube TV are not able to watch ABC, ESPN, FX, all of the Disney Channels or National Geographic. Disney is looking to gain higher rates from Youtube TV to carry Disney’s media. The increase in price for Youtube TV would force the company to raise prices for its customers. Youtube TV is currently offering its subscribers a $20 credit due to the ongoing dispute to try to lower the loss of subscribers.
The interruption has caused many subscribers to lose access to major sporting events, some local news and other popular shows. College football and college basketball, NBA games and NFL games are a part of the affected sporting events.
People had to subscribe to other streaming services or watch through third-party websites. This could affect Youtube TV’s profits, because people could unsubscribe from Youtube TV and then subscribe to other streaming services. Similar contract disputes have occurred in recent years between different media companies and streaming providers. This includes past disputes between Fox and NBCUniversal which were also caused by carriage disputes. Unlike the conflict between Youtube TV and Disney, these disputes were solved before any outage occurred.
Disney is currently losing around $5 million dollars every day that this dispute continues. Disney could lose even more money in the end, since they are raising the price of their subscription around $20-30 per year. This could lead to more subscribers to be lost.
There is no set resolution date, but as of Nov. 11, the negotiations between Disney and Youtube TV continue. The two companies have also not released any details about the ongoing negotiations. Until an agreement is reached, the affected channels will remain unavailable to its subscribers.
Contact Wes Matlock at [email protected]
