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YouTube TV may lose Disney, ESPN channels

ABC7 Eyewitness News actually wasted two minutes of the 3:00 newscast reporting on this, with quotes from their own ownership and from Google.

Someone on YouTube has posted his own "analysis" (wonder how long it will stay up before being yanked?):

ABC apparently has a website set up for viewers to send complaints before the fact to YouTube, but even with the length of time they "reported" they never put it up on the chyron.
 
in this case, Disney is trying to get a new better deal where YouTube TV customers will get the new ESPN DTC app with Unlimited for free, just the classic Paid TV provider vs. Content provider dispute. They will get a deal, even if it means off the platform for a few days to hold the content hostage while a new deal is negotiated for, and when resolved, you will get a increase in the amount you have to pay on you bill for the service.
 
The 11:00 edition of ABC7 Eyewitness News repeated the "story" and managed to chyron the website this time:


It's actually not badly done. Big buttons for sending YouTube TV messages on the YT site, X, and Facebook, a slow scrolling display of various popular programs on ABC and its other networks, a pop-up based on your zip code with links to other providers, including cable, satellite, and streaming services (to their credit, they didn't make Hulu the first entry in the box) and they didn't hide "also available over the air".

I have not read or heard any specifics about offers and counteroffers between the two warring parties, but Disney is being very polite in addressing this with their viewers.
 
Apparently this also includes Sinclair owned ABC affiliates. YTTV just cut it off in the middle of the 10PM news. ESPN is off too.
 
Poledo said:
Apparently this also includes Sinclair owned ABC affiliates. YTTV just cut it off in the middle of the 10PM news.
Click to expand...

If it was a Sinclair-produced newscast, at least the viewers aren't losing anything of consequence.
 
Nexstar's WVNY Burlington, VT, has gone dark on YTTV here, along with all the other Disney and ESPN channels.

I also have an ESPN Select subscription -- formerly ESPN+. I'll be curious to see how this dispute affects what I see on that service over the weekend.
 
KNXV Phoenix and all the ESPN channels are gone. If they're not back in the next couple days, it will be YTTV that will be going away permanently. We don't need another Dish Network that drops channels over the slightest hissy fit. I think I can move NFL Sunday Ticket to my standard YouTube account.
 
Poledo said:
Since when do network carriage disputes take down local affiliates?

This is new to me.
Click to expand...
Disney manages carriage agreements for local ABC affiliates on streaming services at a national level (same goes for the other major networks). This is different than cable carriage negotiations which vary by market and cable system. Streaming carriage is not governed by the same retrans consent/must carry construct that cable has.
 
Confirmed KGUN-TV & all of the ESPN, Disney selections on the YTTV app on my phone are *poof* gone - like a fart in the breeze.

No issue, let 'em cool off a few days.
 
Poledo said:
Since when do network carriage disputes take down local affiliates?

This is new to me.
Click to expand...

This, to me, points out how the average viewer has absolutely no clue as to how retransmission agreements work. Even among people here on RD, who can be presumed to be significantly more knowledgeable than the normal person (who probably thinks no money changes hands for ABC to be on YouTube or Spectrum and certainly doesn't completely realize that ESPN is co-owned), this kind of question gets asked.

It's by no means a stupid question, it's the result of the industry itself not educating the consumer properly.

And thus the two sides who argue over the compensation are both the villains in the viewers' collective eyes.
 
Don CT said:
You notice that they are not pushing the ESPN $30 a month app for a reason. They want those carriage fees from YouTube TV.
Click to expand...
ESPN would rather you subscribe to their app. They make more money this way because you pay them more than your streaming/cable company does, keeping more of the ad revenue (and by collecting valuable data about you).

And this is the rub...ESPN (and others) constantly pimp their standalone streaming products. Streaming platforms and cable companies believe that these standalone products erode their subscriber numbers and want to pay less (and/or get a share of the revenue). The result is a carriage dispute like this.
 
luperm said:
ESPN would rather you subscribe to their app. They make more money this way by keeping more of the ad revenue (and by collecting valuable data about you).

And this is the rub...ESPN (and others) constantly pimp their standalone streaming products. Streaming platforms and cable companies believe that these standalone products erode their subscriber numbers and want to pay less (and/or get a share of the revenue). The result is a carriage dispute like this.
Click to expand...
Disney wants both. They don’t want to lose the carriage fees and they also want the app fees.
 
luperm said:
Disney manages carriage agreements for local ABC affiliates on streaming services at a national level (same goes for the other major networks). This is different than cable carriage negotiations which vary by market and cable system. Streaming carriage is not governed by the same retrans consent/must carry construct that cable has.
Click to expand...
Understood.
This would make more sense if Disney was only able to blackout ABC programming while leaving local programming up on affiliates. Along the lines of Syndex blacking out programming on significantly viewed out of market stations on cable in the 1990s.
 
Poledo said:
This would make more sense if Disney was only able to blackout ABC programming while leaving local programming up on affiliates. Along the lines of Syndex blacking out programming on significantly viewed out of market stations on cable in the 1990s.
Click to expand...

You want this to make SENSE??!!?? :rolleyes:

Seriously, I am pretty sure the network affiliation contracts give the network the right to negotiate the affiliates' carriage on streaming services, and it's not likely to be eliminated in the future. (I cite as my basis for that the fact that negotiation for cable retransmission was originally predicted to go away after it was "proven to be unworkable".)
 


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