Not cool ESPN.
If you’re a YouTube TV subscriber life myself, you’ve been sitting on pins and needles all day waiting to hear about the licensing dispute between the television streaming service and Disney – which owns networks like ESPN and ABC. Unfortunately, these disagreements are becoming quite commonplace (YouTube TV and FOX almost failed to reach an agreement back in August), but this is one of the first times that a deal couldn’t be struck and YouTube TV actually dropped channels from their lineup.
YouTube TV took to social media on October 30 to let customers know that they and the “House of Mouse” weren’t seeing eye to eye on an agreement, so they did not agree to terms that would have kept Disney and ESPN networks on the television streaming provider’s lineup:
“In order to deliver a wide variety of sports, news, and entertainment programming on YouTube TV, we enter into agreements with network partners. Each time we renew our contracts with these partners, we advocate for fair pricing and greater flexibility to offer our subscribers the best possible live TV experience.
Our current agreement with Disney has approached its renewal date, and we will not agree to terms that disadvantage our members while benefiting Disney’s own live TV products. Despite our best efforts, we have not been able to reach a fair deal, and starting today, October 30, 2025, Disney programming will not be available on YouTube TV. This means you will no longer be able to watch channels like ABC and ESPN or access recordings from these networks in your Library.”
Just a complete and utter mess.
The timing of the disagreement couldn’t be worse. There’s a full slate of competitive, high-stakes college football games on Saturday, and ESPN’s Monday Night Football game (between the Arizona Cardinals and the Dallas Cowboys) is just a few days away. With no updates as of yet, it really does seem as though YouTube TV subscribers will be left in the dark this weekend without ESPN and the other Disney networks.
That is if they don’t choose to jump ship and go to another provider, which many college football fans are threatening to do. What are some of the alternatives? Conveniently, one of the more popular options would be Hulu + Live TV, which is owned by Disney. ESPN has also been letting frustrated customers know that they could sign up for their direct-to-consumer streaming service that just recently launched.
Feels like this could have been a money move by Disney, but regardless of who is at fault, it’s just frustrating that the consumer is getting stuck in the middle of this fight.
And to make matters worse, ESPN PR posted this message on social media just a few hours ago. The wording of this post certainly makes it seem like a) they aren’t close to reaching a deal with YouTube TV and b) they are trying to shamelessly push customers to one of the streaming options that they own:
“YouTube TV customers: Here is must-see action you are missing this weekend.”
Like a knife to the heart.
As you might imagine, that social media statement did not land well with customers. Letting people know what they are missing when you could instead be working diligently to return your media product to one of the more popular TV streaming services out there is evil villain work. Disney knows a thing or two about evil villains, but if I remember correctly… they don’t usually win.
And because all YouTube TV customers are currently losing out on a feature that they pay their hard earned money for, they were not happy with this latest social media post from ESPN PR:
Still trying to pass blame to the consumers as a multibillion dollar company LMAOOOOO
— Glen (@GawsCU) October 31, 2025
Might wanna read the words of your own bio picture geniuses pic.twitter.com/yRsSvWUBOm
— Will Applebee (@NOTSCWill) October 31, 2025
Reminder: Hulu is owned by Disney. Don’t switch to Hulu Live.
— Brett (@BK4UF) October 31, 2025
Kinda weird to make us miss the content and then flex about it
— Vols Over All Y’all (@VolsAF) October 31, 2025
this is horrible PR ngl.
— Ethan Clark wx (@EthanClarkWX) October 31, 2025
I’ve gotta agree with Ethan Clark on this one…
