Report: YouTube TV, ESPN 'remain far apart' in ongoing carriage dispute

As the ongoing carriage dispute between Disney and Google‘s popular streaming service enters its second weekend, YouTube TV customers face another Saturday with college football games blacked out on their ABC and ESPN channels. And the stalemate doesn’t appear close to a resolution anytime soon.

The Athletic‘s Andrew Marchand revealed both Disney and Google “remain far apart” in their ongoing carriage negotiations, according to Awful Announcing. That comes even after ESPN personalities engaged in a coordinated pressure campaign on X/Twitter over the past week.

“When these deals turn from stalemate to an agreement, it happens quickly,” Marchand wrote, according to Awful Announcing. “But there is pessimism at the moment, leaving 10 million YouTube TV subscribers to decide when and where to find alternatives for a second straight weekend.”

Pat McAfee calls out ESPN, YouTube TV for ongoing carriage dispute: ‘We’re all done with it’

YouTube TV customers are now entering Week 2 without being able to watch their favorite live sports — including both big-time college football and the NFL’s Monday Night Football — on ABC and ESPN channels amid an ongoing and bitter carriage between Disney and Google’s popular streaming service. All Disney-owned TV channels have been blacked out on YouTube TV since midnight ET last Thursday.

And, after several days of major ESPN personalities — from Scott Van Pelt and Mike Greenberg to Kirk Herbstreit and Laura Rutledge — participating in a coordinated social media campaign aimed at convincing angry viewers to direct their ire at YouTube TV, at least one major player is fed up with the entire situation and is calling on both companies to reach a settlement.

During Tuesday’s The Pat McAfee Show, which is simulcast on both ESPN and YouTube, popular sports personality and ESPN College GameDay analyst Pat McAfee unleashed a lengthy rant about the ongoing carriage dispute. In the process, he called out his ESPN colleagues for their social media campaign.

“We’re all done with it, OK? We’re all done with it. And also, if you’re on TV, stop telling people to go to a website to save a multi-billion-dollar deal. OK? Nobody cares what you have to say,” McAfee said Tuesday on his show. “There will be nothing that we say or a website that needs to be visited that’ll get this thing (resolved). There are, I don’t want to say the exact names, but these people (need to come together). Let’s put our swords down. Let’s put our swords down for the good of sports. … (They) need each other, especially where sports are right now. And we’re right in the middle of it.

“So let’s get it done. … And stop asking me to go to a website. I don’t want to do that. … All you’re doing is pissing everybody off even more.”