Your ABC, ESPN, Disney stations just vanished from popular streaming service. Here’s why
UPDATE: The channels are back as YouTubeTV announced a deal. Read more.
YouTubeTV viewers suddenly saw all Disney-owned channels disappear from the second most popular streaming service at 11:59 p.m. Friday.
That meant that in addition to Disney, ESPN channels, ESPN-owned ACC Network and ABC all went dark.
YouTubeTV removed the channels while embroiled in a contract dispute with ABC-owned Disney, the service told subscribers in an email.
Temporarily gone are WSOC in Charlotte, ABC11 in Raleigh-Durham and all other ABC stations nationwide.
For college football fans, the timing couldn’t have been worse — this weekend is one of the biggest of the football season.
In a midnight blog post, YouTubeTV said the service will drop its monthly price by $15, from $64.99 to $49.99, while the channels remain off its platform.
“We’ve held good faith negotiations with Disney for several months,” YouTube TV said. “Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we’ve been unable to reach an equitable agreement before our existing one expired, and their channels are no longer available on YouTube TV.”
In a statement late Friday, Disney said YouTubeTV “declined to reach a fair deal with us based on market terms and conditions,” The Verge reported.
The FX Network and National Geographic Channel also were pulled from the streaming service because of the dispute.
This story was originally published December 18, 2021 at 11:10 AM with the headline "Your ABC, ESPN, Disney stations just vanished from popular streaming service. Here’s why."