YouTube TV’s parent company, Google, has been locked in a standoff with Disney for nearly two weeks. The dispute began when the two companies failed to reach an agreement on a streaming deal.
This means that for 12 days and counting, 10 million YouTube TV subscribers like myself have not been able to access Disney-owned TV networks like ABC and ESPN, which comprise around 20 different channels.
Business Insider called sports fans “the big losers” in this standoff. The New York Times and Engadget are publishing guides to help viewers tune into must-watch college football games. But the press has ignored a beleaguered demographic suffering in silence while their peers boot up Fubo trials to watch Monday Night Football.
It’s me. I’m beleaguered. I can’t watch “Jeopardy!” because it airs on ABC.
“Jeopardy!” is a longstanding fixture in my nightly routine. I finish work. I make dinner. I watch “Jeopardy!” So imagine my surprise in early November when I turned on YouTube TV, only to find that the most recent episode had not recorded. In fact, months of my “Jeopardy!” recordings had vanished! The horror! Who’s the current “Jeopardy!” champion? Has Ken Jennings worn any cool ties lately? I don’t know. Because I can’t watch “Jeopardy!”
YouTube TV and Disney have been locked in this public dispute for weeks. On October 23, YouTube TV wrote in a statement that it has been “working in good faith” to negotiate a deal with Disney, but that the company is “proposing costly economic terms that would raise prices on YouTube TV customers […] while benefitting Disney’s own live TV products.” From Disney’s perspective, YouTube TV is “refusing to pay fair rates for our channels.”
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On Sunday, YouTube TV announced that it would give subscribers a $20 credit — which must be manually redeemed — to compensate for nearly two weeks of a Disney blackout. While I thank the $3.46 trillion giant Google for its generosity, might I point out that in 2021, when a similar dispute blacked out Disney’s channels from YouTube TV for one day, subscribers got a $15 credit? (Also, YouTube TV cost almost $20 less per month back then.)
According to Morgan Stanley, Disney will lose an estimated $60 million over two weeks –$4.3 million per day — by not making a deal with YouTube TV. But Disney could also be generating new income streams with the recently launched ESPN Unlimited subscription, which gives subscribers access to all ESPN content for $30 per month. However, we must note that ESPN Unlimited crucially does not include “Jeopardy!”, America’s Favorite Quiz Show®.
I could, like many others, use this opportunity to scope out other cord-cutting streamers, perhaps those owned by Disney — however, I may or may not be sharing my YouTube TV account with five other people, leaving me pretty locked into a sweet deal. (Please, YouTube TV, don’t pull a Netflix on me.)
When will this national nightmare end? When will I once again be able to criticize contestants’ mathematically illogical Daily Double wagers? When will I be reminded that I know literally nothing about opera? The ball’s in your court, Mr. Mouse.
