Sign with logos for Google and the Google owned video streaming service YouTube at the Googleplex, … [+]
YouTube TV and Disney came to a carriage agreement on Sunday afternoon after a brief blackout of Disney-owned channels, such as ABC and ESPN, became Friday night.
On Friday, December 17, YouTube informed subscribers that the 25 channels Disney has on YouTube TV would be pulled after the two parties could not reach an agreement before their contract lapsed. Earlier in the week Disney warned customers that it would be pulling its channels from YouTube TV at the end of the day Friday if the two groups weren’t able to come to an agreement.
When Disney was dropped from YouTube TV the streaming platform dropped its subscription price by $15 from $64.99 to $49.99 to compensate for the lost channels, which also include Freeform, National Geographic, and FX.
On Sunday, December 19, the two parties came to a carriage agreement and YouTube TV began to restore access to live and on-demand content from the briefly blacked out Disney-owned networks. Those who had recordings from Disney-owned channels in their Youtube TV Library will also see those restored. The discounted price of the streaming platform will be honored with a one-time discount of $15 for all active members, and will reflect on their next monthly bill.
“We apologize for the disruption and appreciate your patience as we continued to negotiate on your behalf,” YouTube said in a statement. “We also value Disney’s partnership and willingness to work towards an agreement.”
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As the streaming wars continue to heat up, this is just the latest snafu to impact customers, especially during major sports seasons, which Disney is a big player in. The lapse in streaming caused the Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves NBA match to go black in the middle of the game, which caused outrage. Others who counted on the streaming service to be able to watch the dozens of college bowl games that will be played over the next few weeks, and the NFL’s Monday Night Football.
In a statement Disney said, “We appreciate Google’s collaboration to reach fair terms that are consistent with the market, and we’re thrilled that our robust lineup of live sports and news plus kids, family and general entertainment programming is in the process of being restored to YouTube TV subscribers across the country.”
This isn’t the first issue YouTube TV has had with carriage disputes. In September and October, NBCU threatened to pull 14 channels from YouTube TV, but the two parties were able to come to an agreement without disruption to subscribers. Then a few weeks ago, YouTube and Roku were in negotiations about distribution terms for YouTube and YouTube TV apps, which was also resolved.
