YouTube TV’s parent company, Google, has been at odds with Disney for nearly two weeks. The dispute began when the two companies failed to agree on a streaming deal.
This means that for 12 days and counting, 10 million YouTube TV subscribers like myself have not been able to access Disney-owned TV networks like ABC and ESPN, which include about 20 different channels.
Business Insider invited sports fans “the big losersThe New York Times and Engadget are version guides to help viewers tune in where to watch college football games. But the press has silently ignored a beleaguered demographic suffering while their peers are taking Fubo tests to watch Monday Night Football.
It’s me. I am under siege. I can’t watch “Jeopardy!” because it airs on ABC.
“Risk!” it’s a long-standing staple in my nightly routine. i finish work I’m making dinner. I watch “Jeopardy!” So imagine my surprise in early November when I opened YouTube TV to find that the most recent episode hadn’t been recorded. In fact, months of my “Danger”! the recordings were gone! The horror! Who is the current “Jeopardy!” champion; Has Ken Jennings been wearing any cool ties lately? I don’t know. Because I can’t watch “Jeopardy!”
YouTube TV and Disney have been locked in this public dispute for weeks. On October 23, YouTube TV wrote in a statement that it is “working in good faith” to negotiate a deal with Disney, but that the company is “proposing costly financial terms that would raise prices for YouTube TV customers … while they benefit from Disney’s live TV products.” From Disney’s perspectiveYouTube TV “refuses to pay fair prices for our channels”.
On Sunday, YouTube TV announced it would give subscribers a $20 credit — which must be redeemed manually — to make up for nearly two weeks of Disney downtime. While I thank the $3.46 trillion giant Google for its generosity, may I point out that in 2021, when a similar controversy blocked Disney channels from YouTube TV for a day, subscribers received a $15 credit? (Also, YouTube TV cost almost $20 less per month back then.)
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According to Morgan Stanley, Disney will lose an estimated $60 million in two weeks — $4.3 million a day — by not making a deal with YouTube TV. But Disney could also create new revenue streams with the newly launched ESPN Unlimited subscription, which gives subscribers access to all ESPN content for $30 per month. However, we should note that ESPN Unlimited essentially does not include “Jeopardy!”, America’s Favorite Quiz Show®.
I could, like many others, use this opportunity to get other cord-cutting streams, perhaps Disney-owned ones — however, I may or may not be sharing my YouTube TV account with five other people, leaving me pretty much locked into a sweet deal. (Please, YouTube TV, don’t Netflix me.)
When will this national nightmare end? When will I once again be able to criticize the contestants’ mathematically absurd Daily Double bets? When am I going to remind myself that I know literally nothing about opera? The ball is in your court, Mr. Mouse.
