Post by : Bianca
Haleem
Across the United States, millions of subscribers discovered Disney-owned networks such as ESPN, ABC and National Geographic were removed from YouTube TV late on Thursday, following the collapse of licensing discussions between Google and Disney.
At the heart of the dispute are carriage fees. Disney says YouTube TV declined to pay what it considers fair-market prices and accused the platform of using its scale to seek lower rates. Google’s YouTube TV counters that Disney pushed for conditions that would increase subscription costs, narrow viewer choice and favour its own Hulu + Live TV offering.
With roughly 10 million accounts affected, YouTube TV indicated it would issue a $20 credit to subscribers if the Disney channels remain off the service for a prolonged period.
The confrontation echoes recent clashes between streaming services and major content owners as both sides jockey for leverage. Earlier this month, YouTube averted a similar outage by striking a last-minute agreement with NBCUniversal to keep shows like Sunday Night Football available.
Negotiations are ongoing, and viewers are waiting to learn when Disney programming and live sports coverage might be restored to YouTube TV.
English
