YouTube TV has lost most of its relevance for fans of ESPN, ABC, and other Disney-owned networks, as the service has stopped offering these channels.
Google shared a post yesterday confirming the news, which explains that it failed to “reach an equitable agreement” with Disney to retain various channels that also include FX and National Geographic. The good news is that YouTube TV is reducing its monthly price as a result by $15; the new price is $49.99 for the Base Plan.
YouTube TV on the price change:
We will be decreasing our monthly price by $15, from $64.99 to $49.99, for the Base Plan while this content remains off of our platform. No action is needed on your part. A credit of $15 per month will automatically be issued. Once the content is unavailable, this credit will be applied to your next bill after December 17 and will only be visible to family managers in Settings Billing after the charge has taken place. Please note that if you have a promotional price with YouTube TV, you can still expect a $15 credit. Members who are in a paused state will receive this credit one month after their first charge. Should we come to an agreement with Disney, we will adjust the price accordingly and will notify members via email beforehand.
A list of Disney-owned channels that are no longer available on YouTube TV:
- Your local ABC channel
- ABC News Live
- Disney Channel
- Disney Junior
- Disney XD
- Freeform
- FX
- FXX
- FXM
- National Geographic
- National Geographic Wild
- ESPN
- ESPN2
- ESPN3 (by authentication to the ESPN app)
- ESPNU
- ESPNEWS
- SEC Network
- ACC Network
Disney has sent a statement to The Streamable that suggests Google did not want to pay the appropriate price for its offerings, but that negotiations are still open:
We’ve been in ongoing negotiations with Google’s YouTube TV and unfortunately, they have declined to reach a fair deal with us based on market terms and conditions. As a result, their subscribers have lost access to our unrivaled portfolio of networks including live sports and news plus kids, family and general entertainment programming from ABC, the ESPN networks, the Disney channels, Freeform, the FX networks and the National Geographic channels.
We stand ready to reach an equitable agreement with Google as quickly as possible in order to minimize the inconvenience to YouTube TV viewers by restoring our networks. We hope Google will join us in that effort.
As shared by The Streamable, some of the alternatives to YouTube TV that do carry ESPN, FX, National Geographic, and other Disney channels include Hulu + Live TV and DIRECTV STREAM, both of which cost $69.99 per month. There’s also fuboTV and Sling TV, which cost $64.99 and $35–$50+ per month, respectively.
Source: YouTube TV (via The Streamable)