Disney spat with YouTube TV highlights issues with status quo

• Pay TV operators and TV network owners continue to spar over carriage fees, highlighted by another public dispute involving Walt Disney Co. and Alphabet Inc.'s YouTube TV. The Disney networks went dark on YouTube TV on Oct. 30 and have yet to return as of Nov. 5.
• The carriage dispute could end up costing Disney over $2 billion in annual affiliate revenue from YouTube TV, which translates to over $5 million per day in lost revenue.
• YouTube TV is the third-largest provider of linear TV networks in the US with an estimated 9.2 million subscribers as of the second quarter of 2025. The increase in YouTube TV subscribers has given the service more leverage in carriage negotiations in recent years, which has potentially driven the uptick in disputes.

While these carriage disputes are primarily driven by disagreements over fees charged by the networks, other issues have also arisen surrounding the willingness of pay TV operators to carry all of a media company's networks as well as the length of these deals. In this case, YouTube is looking to pick and choose which Disney-owned networks it carries on its lineups, noting that it is interested in paying for networks like ABC (US) and ESPN (US) (which consistently rank in the top 10 most-watched networks) but not for some of the other, less-watched networks like Disney XD (US), Freeform (US) and FXX (US). The virtual multichannel service provider is apparently also looking to sign shorter deals of around one year or so, whereas industry standards are for deals ranging from three to five years.

If the dispute persists for "an extended period," YouTube has stated that it would offer subscribers a $20 credit to make up for the loss of Disney programming. ESPN is the most expensive basic cable network, with an estimated average cost of $10.79 per subscriber per month. We estimate that the group of 17 basic cable networks owned by Disney has a combined cost of $20.20 per subscriber per month.

Disney's recent history of carriage disputes

Disney is no stranger to carriage disputes, including ones with YouTube TV. The two companies were involved in a similar dispute in December 2021 that resulted in a two-day blackout before a deal was reached.

Pay TV operator Charter was also involved in a dispute with Disney over fees, resulting in the drop of eight of the more niche Disney networks by Charter. These networks were eventually added back to Charter in June 2025.

In September 2024, Disney networks went dark on DirecTV during a dispute that lasted 13 days.

YouTube TV's recent pushback on rising fees

The publicized dispute with Disney is nothing new for Google and YouTube TV, which have been involved in a series of disputes in recent months.

YouTube TV is currently involved in a carriage dispute with TelevisaUnivision that began at the end of September 2025. YouTube TV subscribers have received a $6 credit as a result of the dispute and loss of TelevisaUnivision programming.

Comcast was involved in a public dispute with YouTube TV at the end of September; however, the two companies reached a short-term agreement that allowed NBCUniversal networks to remain on YouTube TV's channel lineups without interruption. YouTube stated during the dispute that subscribers would be offered a $10 credit had the NBCUniversal networks been removed from its lineups.

Fox Corp. and YouTube TV reached an agreement for carriage renewal in August 2025, following some public statements that did not result in a blackout.

Paramount Skydance Corp. was involved in a spat with YouTube TV over pricing in February 2025, which occurred shortly after YouTube had raised its monthly price to $82.99. This dispute was also settled with a short-term agreement before the networks were officially removed from YouTube TV's channel lineups.

Economics of Networks is a regular feature from S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan.

This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.