Disney YouTube TV Dispute Resolved: ABC & ESPN Return
- ESPN football is returning to YouTube TV after the service and the Walt Disney Co.
- The Disney-owned outlets and ABC station signals were being restored for YouTube TV's 10 million customers, the companies announced late Friday.
- "We're happy to share that we've reached an agreement with Disney that preserves the value of our service for our subscribers and future flexibility in our offers," YouTube...
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ESPN Returns to YouTube TV: A Deal Reached After 15-Day Blackout
ESPN football is returning to YouTube TV after the service and the Walt Disney Co. settled their contentious contract dispute – ending the nearly 15-day blackout of Disney channels.
The Disney-owned outlets and ABC station signals were being restored for YouTube TV’s 10 million customers, the companies announced late Friday. The breakthrough came after the companies agreed on a new multi-year distribution deal for YouTube, which is owned by Google, replacing the previous pact that had expired Oct. 30.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
“We’re happy to share that we’ve reached an agreement with Disney that preserves the value of our service for our subscribers and future flexibility in our offers,” YouTube said in a statement. “We apologize for the disruption and appreciate our subscribers’ patience as we negotiated on their behalf.”
The declaration came one day after Disney talked tough.Disney’s chief financial officer appeared on CNBC, saying the Burbank company was willing to negotiate with Google “as long as they want to” rather than cave in.
“This new agreement reflects our continued commitment to delivering remarkable entertainment and evolving with how audiences choose to watch,” Disney Entertainment Co-Chairmen Alan Bergman and dana Walden and ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said late Friday in a statement.
“It recognizes the tremendous value of Disney’s programming and provides YouTube TV subscribers with more flexibility and choice. We are pleased that our networks have been restored in time for fans to enjoy the many great programming options this weekend, including college football,” Pitaro, Bergman and Walden said.
YouTube said customers should see “content returning to their service over … the next 24 hours, including [their] library recordings.”
Disney’s full suite of linear channels, including FX, national Geographic and Freeform, will return to YouTube TV. The agreement also carves Disney a strong presence on YouTube TV as well as the main youtube app, the companies said.
in addition,the recently launched ESPN Unlimited streaming service will be made available to youtube TV customers at no additional cost,including some live and on-demand programming. The Disney+ and Hulu bundle also will be included in some of YouTube’s offerings.
The outage surpassed the length of last year’s clash between Disney and DirecTV, which saw Disney channels being dropped for 13 days.
YouTube and Disney spent weeks bickering over distribution fees. Google had rebuffed Disney
