FCC chairman Brendan Carr has weighed in on Disney and YouTube TV’s ongoing carriage dispute, which has left ABC, ESPN and more of the media giant’s channels and programming dark on the Google-owned platform for over a week.
“Google and Disney need to get a deal done and end this blackout,” Carr wrote in an X post on Monday evening. “People should have the right to watch the programming they paid for — including football. Get it done!”
The FCC notably does not have regulatory authority over YouTube TV or other virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPD), such as Hulu + Live TV.
However, Carr has previously accused YouTube TV of “discriminating against faith-based programming.” At the time, Carr noted that the Communications Act gives the FCC the power to address certain discriminatory practices in the negotiation of carriage agreements between programmers and distributors.
The FCC has also had multiple open proceedings seeking comment on whether to expand its existing rules and apply the same regulatory scrutiny to vMVPDs as other distributors.
Carr’s comments come as Disney has accused YouTube TV of continuing to “insist on receiving preferential terms that are below market”and making “few concessions.”
In a memo to staff on Friday, the company’s leadership argued that it has offered a deal that would cost less overall than the terms of its recently expired contract, with “fair” terms that are “in-line with the more than 500 other distributors that have renewed their agreements since last summer, including the top distributors, who are far larger than YouTube TV.” Additionally, Disney says it offered programming packages tailored to sports fans, entertainment fans, kids and families to offer more flexibility and value.
A YouTube TV spokesperson previously told TheWrap that Disney is “resorting to their old tactics like leaking documents to the press, negotiating in public through their paid talent and misrepresenting the facts including from the deals they’ve offered and taking credit for our product proposals.”
The tech giant said that Disney is asking them for a rate above what Charter and DirecTV pay for the ABC networks and to pay more for their content than what they charge the Hulu and Fubo, which recently completed its merger with Hulu + Live TV.
YouTube added that it isn’t asking for better rates, but for size-based “most favored nations,” a contractual promise that a programmer will not offer better terms to any other distributor without offering the same terms them. It also disputed that the tailored programming packages are Disney’s proposal, noting that it’s a topic they’ve had conversations with all of their partners about.
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), followed by Hulu + Live TV and Fubo, which combined total nearly 6 million subscribers in North America.
