Disney has asked YouTube TV to restore ABC on its platform for Election Day on Tuesday as the two sides continue to negotiate a new carriage deal. The former’s portfolio of networks went dark on the Google-owned platform last week ahead of a Sept. 30 expiration of the current contract.
“Despite the impasse that led to the current blackout, we have asked YouTube TV to restore ABC for Election Day so subscribers have access to the information they rely on,” a Disney spokesperson told TheWrap. “We believe in putting the public interest first and hope YouTube TV will take this small step for their customers while we continue to work toward a fair agreement.”
In a statement, YouTube said the proposal would “cause customer confusion among those who may briefly see ABC on YouTube TV only to lose it again shortly after.”
They noted that election information is “very widely available “across other broadcast stations and news networks on YouTube TV, as well as on the main YouTube service, for free and that the vast majority of YouTube TV subscribers tuned into other sources during the last two U.S. election days. They added that Disney can livestream via the ABC News YouTube page, which has 19.1 million subscribers, and the YouTube pages of its ABC local stations.
YouTube also made a counterproposal to restore ABC and ESPN on its service as the two sides continue to negotiate.
“Publicly resorting to the same tactic that Disney relied on in past disputes fails to acknowledge the distinction between YouTube and other distribution platforms,” the statement continued. “To truly achieve what is best for our mutual customers, we propose immediately restoring the Disney channels that our customers watch: ABC and the ESPN networks, while we continue to negotiate. Those are the channels that people want.”
“If you agree with our proposal and give us approval, we can get our operational teams together and get these channels live in hours. Let us know how you’d like to proceed,” YouTube concluded. “More importantly, let’s get a fair deal done so we can get back to providing our mutual customers with the content they want. Thank you.”
The offer came after Disney’s senior leadership previously blasted YouTube TV and Google for being “not interested in achieving a fair deal.”
“Instead, they want to use their power and extraordinary resources to eliminate competition and devalue the very content that helped them build their service,” Disney Entertainment co-chairs Alan Bergman and Dana Walden and ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a memo to staff last week.
At the time, a YouTube TV spokesperson fired back that Disney used the threat of a blackout as a negotiating tactic to “force deal terms that would raise prices on our customers” and rejected offers to keep their networks on the platform.
They added that Disney’s proposals “fundamentally disadvantage” YouTube TV, while “preserving preferential terms and content” for their own services and that they asked for economics that would “significantly raise costs” on subscribers and rates that would “hinder its ability to compete with other distributors.”
“This decision directly harms our subscribers while benefiting their own live TV products, including Hulu + Live TV and Fubo,” the spokesperson said. “We know this is a frustrating and disappointing outcome for our subscribers and we continue to urge Disney to work with us constructively to reach a fair agreement that restores their networks to YouTube TV.”
YouTube TV said it will offer subscribers a $20 credit if Disney content remains off the platform for an extended period of time.
The latest carriage dispute comes after Disney resolved a 13-day programming blackout with DirecTV in September 2024, a 10-day dispute with Charter Communications in 2023 and a 48-hour dispute with Dish in 2022, while YouTube TV recently reached agreements with Fox and NBCUniversal.
It also comes after the two sides settled a lawsuit over YouTube TV’s hiring of former Disney platform distribution president Justin Connolly, who previously led the company’s carriage negotiations.
In addition to Disney, YouTube TV has yet to reach a deal with TelevisaUnivision, whose programming has been dark on the platform since Sept. 30. President Donald Trump weighed in on the latter dispute, urging YouTube TV to restore the Spanish-language network’s programming.
With over 8 million subscribers, YouTube TV is one of the largest pay TV operators alongside Charter Communications, Comcast and DirecTV. It is the largest virtual multichannel video programming distributor (vMVPD).
