Joe Maring / Android Authority
TL;DR
- YouTube and Disney are nowhere close to resolving their dispute over distribution fees.
- In its earnings call recently, Disney said it is prepared for the conflict to extend longer.
- Officially in Week 3, this is reported to be the longest Disney blackout ever.
If you’ve been waiting patiently to watch the next Monday Night Football game on your YouTube TV, next week or any of the coming weeks, you might want to give up already. That is because Disney has gestured its two-week-long dispute with YouTube TV may continue to stretch longer.
Adding to this statement by Johnston, Bob Iger, Disney CEO, was reported by Reuters to have mentioned that the current deal proposed by Disney is better than or equal to what other larger distributors have agreed to. Notably, YouTube TV has rapidly surged to become the fourth largest distributor of live TV channels, falling only behind stalwarts such as Comcast, Charter, and DirecTV.
According to another report from earlier this week, YouTube has been demanding a special rate that is lower than that of these distributors, resulting in a stalemate. YouTube, on the other hand, has blamed Disney for pushing for rates that would force it to increase subscription prices for YouTube TV consumers.
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Iger was further reported to have said, “we’ve been working tirelessly to close this deal and restore our channel to the platform, it’s also imperative that we make sure that we agree with a deal that reflects the value that we deliver, which both YouTube, by the way, and Alphabet have told us is greater than the value of any other provider.”
Despite this staunchness, both parties have been bleeding cash over the issue. While Disney has been projected to lose $30 million every week of the blackout, Google has taken up the monumental task of issuing $20 refunds to its nearly 9 million subscribers. While YouTube’s dominance likely stems from its steady growth and a large consumer base, Disney is reportedly seeking to reduce its reliance on other distributors, particularly for sports broadcasting. Notably, Disney and YouTube have entered the third week of their conflict, which, according to Business Insider, is the longest blackout in Disney’s history.
Back in August, Disney launched ESPN Unlimited, which Morgan Stanley (via Variety) projects to earn Disney $500m starting next financial year. However, the transition is not expected to be immediate, and existing YouTube TV subscribers are already feeling the chasm.
Besides the disappointing news of the blackout’s extension, Disney also shared what most fans would consider good news. Iger said the corporation is working with AI companies to allow fans to create short-form content using characters from various Disney-owned studios. This feature should be available to all subscribers of Disney+, which, thankfully, continues to work normally on Google-owned Android TV and Google TV platforms.
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