How to watch ESPN and ABC for free if you're a YouTube TV subscriber

It’s now been revealed how you can watch ESPN and ABC for free if you are a YouTube TV subscriber. Currently, the network and streaming service are in the middle of a dispute, causing users to not have the channels available on a college football Saturday.

“Despite our best efforts, we have not been able to reach a fair deal, and starting today, Disney programming will not be available on YouTube TV,” YouTube TV said in a statement posted to Twitter/X late on Oct. 30. But, there is a temporary solution.

DIRECTV is the straight forward way to fix the solution. They are offering a five-day free trial for all plans to watch all of its content. That includes college football, which is still unavailable on YouTube TV as of Saturday morning.

DIRECTV offers a number of flexible plan options that include the affected channels, plus all plans come with a five-day free trial (which is especially great if not missing college football is your only concern here).

Below, we break down some of DIRECTV’s most popular plans by how much they cost after a five-day free trial and what channels they include.

The New York Post also provided some other options, instead of YouTube TV, if you’re looking to switch. As of now, ESPN’s College GameDay is free on ESPN’s app and Pat McAfee’s Twitter/X page.

• Entertainment: $49.99/month for the first month ($89.99/month after)
  • ABC, Disney Channel, ESPN, ESPN2, Freeform, FX, FXX, Nat Geo
• Choice: $59.99/month for the first month ($94.99/month after)
  • ABC, ACC Network, Disney Channel, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, Freeform, FX, FXX, Nat Geo, SEC Network
• Ultimate: $84.99/month for the first month ($124.99/month after)
  • ABC, ACC Network, Disney Channel, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, Freeform, FX, FXM, FXX, Nat Geo, Nat Geo Wild, SEC Network
• MySports Genre Pack: $59.99/month for the first two months ($69.99/month after)
  • ACC Network, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, SEC Network
• MyEntertainment Genre Pack: $29.99/month for the first two months ($34.99/month after)
  • Freeform, FX, FXM, FXX, Nat Geo, Nat Geo Wild

The timing of the carriage dispute comes at an important time in the calendar for ESPN. The NBA season tipped off last week, meaning the network has more marquee events in addition to Monday Night Football, NHL games and its college football schedule.

ABC, specifically, has gotten off to a dominant start to the college football season. The network has aired 21 of the 25 most-watched games of the year, led by Georgia’s overtime victory against Tennessee in Week 3. That matchup averaged 12.6 million viewers.

It’s also the latest carriage situation for YouTube TV, which held negotiations with other key media companies this calendar year. The company struck a deal with FOX in late August to avoid a blackout and landed another one with NBC in September prior to that deal’s expiration.