If you’re a YouTube TV subscriber, you may have noticed some missing channels on the platform Friday morning.
Disney and YouTube TV have been unable to reach a new content distribution deal, prompting Disney to pull all of its channels from the service.
The vanished live networks include ABC, FX and every ESPN channel. Additionally, all DVR recordings from Disney-owned channels have been wiped from viewer libraries as well.
“Despite our best efforts, we have not been able to reach a fair deal, and starting today, Disney programming will not be available on YouTube TV,” YouTube TV said in a statement late Thursday night.
YouTube TV relies on licensing outside content through carriage fees. According to Disney, Google-owned YouTube TV isn’t willing to “pay fair rates for its channels,” according to the Associated Press.
According to Variety, the two sides “remain far apart on a deal renewal.”
However, a Disney statement to USA Today said the company is “committed to working toward a resolution as quickly as possible.”
“With a $3 trillion market cap, Google is using its market dominance to eliminate competition and undercut the industry-standard terms we’ve successfully negotiated with every other distributor,” Disney’s statement said.
This isn’t the first such conflict for YouTube TV in recent months. Paramount, Fox and Universal have all endured spats with the platform over contract renewals, but all were resolved before any sort of blackout.
How the Disney blackout will affect local college football fans
On Saturday, ESPN’s “College GameDay” show will be live at Rice-Eccles Stadium ahead of Utah’s critical Big 12 clash with Cincinnati.
But unfortunately for Ute fans subscribed to YouTube TV, they may miss the fun.
YouTube TV says it will offer a $20 credit to subscribers if ESPN and other Disney channels stay down for an extended period of time, though YouTube TV did not specify how long that would be.
For fans who don’t want to miss out on any college football or other sports from Disney networks, ESPN Unlimited offers every ESPN cable channel for $29.99 per month. This new service is different from ESPN+, which does not include the main cable channels.
BYU football is on a bye this weekend before visiting Texas Tech on Nov. 8. That matchup will be broadcast on either ABC or ESPN, so perhaps the dispute with YouTube TV will have concluded by then.
