Standoff Between ESPN and YouTube TV Leaves Sports Fans Without Major Broadcasts
Image courtesy of The Washington Post.
By Griffin Cappiello
Sports fans love live sports — they have shown that they will continue to pay for whatever combination of streaming platforms they need so they don’t miss a single game. Unfortunately, when major sports broadcasting companies can’t agree on contracts with television distributors, sports fans get caught in the crossfire.
Last weekend, YouTube TV subscribers were informed that all channels owned by Disney, including ESPN and ABC, would no longer be available on the platform. The Walt Disney Company and Google (YouTube TV’s parent company) failed to reach an agreement on compensation; Disney wants Google to pay a certain amount for access to Disney’s programming, while Google seems to think a different amount might be appropriate.
While the multi-million dollar corporations duke it out, sports fans are missing out on major competitions. The NFL’s Monday Night Football, college football games, including broadcasts on the SEC Network and the ACC Network; NBA games; and men’s and women’s college basketball are among the games that YouTube TV subscribers have missed out on — and will continue to miss until Disney and Google can reach an agreement.
Sports fans are upset — and rightfully so. Subscribers pay good money ($83 per month) for access to YouTube TV, which presumably includes ESPN, ABC, and other Disney channels. Oftentimes, they pay for additional streaming services in order to watch games that aren’t available on YouTube TV.
Take my family: we’re big sports fans, and our streaming service subscriptions show it. We pay for YouTube TV, Peacock, and Amazon Prime Video to watch the NFL and college football, and we still face games that are blacked out due to geographic restrictions. We pay for ESPN+, Paramount+, Apple TV+, and Peacock (again) in order to watch soccer games from a number of leagues all over the world.
With Disney’s channels restricted on YouTube TV, we lose access to the only reason we even pay for YouTube TV in the first place, and what do we get in return? The potential for a $20 credit for the month if the lockout continues!
I talked to my dad about what he had heard about the standoff, and he said that he hadn’t heard much.
“I do think it is smart of YouTube TV to send me emails blaming it on Disney,” he said. “Disney didn’t send me an email explaining their side of the story.”
While Disney didn’t send emails to YouTube TV subscribers, The Athletic reported that “ESPN enlisted top talents from Stephen A. Smith to Kirk Herbstreit to Scott Van Pelt to tell people how to switch their provider and still watch their games.”
Sports fans online seemed to think that Disney’s endgame was to convince YouTube TV subscribers to drop their subscriptions and switch to ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer app. The Athletic didn’t seem to agree, suggesting that Disney wants to avoid fans who subscribe only for one sport, potentially dropping their subscription once the season ends.
The Athletic’s coverage of the standoff also provided a list of other streaming options that do have access to ESPN and other Disney properties, which included Fubo, Cox, and DirecTV.
Until Google and Disney reach an agreement, subscribers will be left in the dust. Let’s hope they can figure this out soon — I, for one, would love to watch Monday Night Football.
