alphabet And Disney announced Friday that it has reached an agreement to restore content from ABC and ESPN to Google’s YouTube TV.
The deal comes after a two-week standoff between the two companies that began on October 31. The standoff resulted in numerous live sporting events, including college football games and two Monday Night Football games, not being viewable on the popular streaming service.
“We are pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement with Disney that preserves the value of our service to our subscribers and the future flexibility of our offerings,” YouTube said in a statement. “Subscribers should see channels like ABC, ESPN and FX return to their service later today, as well as any recordings that were previously in their library. We apologize for the disruption and thank our subscribers for their patience as we negotiated on their behalf.”
Disney Entertainment co-chairmen Alan Bergman and Dana Walden and ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement that the agreement reflects “how audiences choose to watch entertainment.”
“We are pleased that our networks were restored in time for fans to enjoy the many great programming options, including college football, this weekend,” they said.
More than 20 Disney-owned channels have been removed from YouTube TV, which offered $20 credit to its subscribers this week, due to the dispute. In addition to ABC and ESPN, FX, NatGeo, Disney Channel and Freeform were also unavailable.
The main point of contention between the two companies has been the price that Disney charges YouTube TV for its channels. Disney’s most valuable network, ESPN, charges a carriage fee of more than $10 per month per pay-TV subscriber, a higher fee than any other network in the United States, CNBC previously reported.
It’s not the first conflict this year between YouTube and legacy media.
NBCUniversal content was nearly removed from YouTube TV before the companies reached an agreement in October that prevented shows like “Sunday Night Football” and “America’s Got Talent” from being pulled.
YouTube TV also found itself in a standoff with fox In August, this almost led to Fox News, Fox Sports and other Fox channels shutting down service just before the start of the college football season. The two sides managed to reach an agreement to prevent a blackout.
YouTube said it has the option for future programming packages with Disney and other partners.
Disney announced that access to a selection of live and on-demand programming from ESPN Unlimited, including content from ESPN+ and new content from its all-inclusive digital service available later this year, will be available on YouTube TV at no additional cost to basic plan subscribers through the end of 2026.
Here’s the memo Disney executives sent to employees:
Team,
We are pleased to announce that we have reached a new agreement with YouTube TV and all of our channels and networks are currently returning to the service.
While this was a challenging moment, it ultimately resulted in a strong outcome for both consumers and our company, with a deal that recognizes the tremendous value of the quality entertainment, sports and news that fans have come to expect from Disney.
In recent years we have been at the forefront of developing innovative deals with key partners –
Each is unique and each is designed to highlight the full value of our programming. This new agreement reflects the same creativity and commitment to doing what is best for our audience and our company.
We are proud of the work that went into this deal and thank everyone who helped make it happen – especially Sean Breen, Jimmy Zasowski and the Platform Distribution team for their tireless commitment throughout this process.
Thank you everyone for your patience and professionalism over the last few weeks. As you all know, the media landscape is rapidly evolving, making these types of negotiations complex. What hasn’t changed is our focus on the viewer. Our priority remains providing fans with the best experiences and value for money, and we will continue to work closely with our partners to ensure we deliver on this mission for our audiences.
We are incredibly optimistic about the future and grateful to all of you for continuing to set the standard for entertainment around the world.
Alan, Dana and Jimmy
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, the owner of CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC following Comcast’s planned spinoff of Versant.
REGARD: Google has a lot more leverage over Disney in its carriage battle: LightShed’s Rich Greenfield
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