YouTube TV, ESPN contract dispute expected 'to go on for a little while' after Disney earnings call

YouTube TV and Disney remain unsettled amidst what’s been nearly a two-week dispute between the two sides. And, based on the latest on Thursday morning, the matter still doesn’t seem as though it’ll be resolved soon.

During an earnings call this morning by Disney, CFO Hugh Johnston says the ongoing negotiations with YouTube TV “could go on for a little while.” CEO Bob Iger maintained that the company is working as hard as it can to resolve this, as it claims to have made a very good offer. These updates come per Joe Flint at the Wall Street Journal, as well as Andrew Marchand at The Athletic.

It has been two weeks since channels associated with Disney were pulled from the streaming catalog of YouTube TV on October 30th. That bundle package includes all of the networks for ESPN as well as ABC, Disney Channel, FX, and Freeform. The negotiations are apparently more so over the price of the subsequent channels as part of the bundle, but all the channels remain unavailable nonetheless.

Sports fans who are subscribed to YouTube TV are especially frustrated with no airing of content from The Worldwide Leader. That frustration is amplified amidst the football season, with fans being unable to stream a pair of weekends in college football and a pair of games on Monday Night Football.

Because of the disputes, YouTube TV provided a credit of $20 to subscribers. That’s been little comfort, though, as customers continue to wait for this to be resolved.

The hope was that there would be some momentum to get this fixed soon, especially with another sports weekend coming. But Disney seems to think this negotiation still isn’t done with YouTube TV.

YouTube TV calls out report regarding ESPN, ABC cost, reveals current holdup

The carriage dispute between YouTube TV and Disney is now approaching a third weekend in the football season. Now, though, it looks as though ESPN isn’t the current sticking point between YouTube TV and Disney, but actually ABC.

A spokesperson for YouTube TV told Awful Announcing that the two sides are in alignment about the price for ESPN. It’s the price of ABC that’s an issue. In all of that, Disney would argue that more live sports and events on ABC should be worth a higher rate. YouTube TV, and other providers, however, would argue that Disney is double-dipping, as things like ‘Monday Night Football’ are often simulcast as well on ESPN.

The spokesperson for YouTube TV was speaking in response to a report from Puck Sports. In that report, it was stated that YouTube TV is attempting to negotiate a lower rate for Disney’s content than the country’s three largest TV providers in Comcast, Charter, and DirecTV. This would, in turn, trigger a “Most Favored Clause,” lowering Disney’s rates for those providers to match.

The spokesperson added that YouTube TV doesn’t want those lower rates immediately. Instead, since the platform is the only one of the four on a growth trajectory, it “wants to codify lower rates once it surpasses the three other distributors in subscribers.” Analysts suggest that it could be as soon as next year, as cord-cutting continues.