ESPN and other Disney-owned channels will be returning to YouTube TV following a new agreement announced Friday. More than 20 channels went dark on YouTube TV on October 30th, but two weeks later — and after CEOs Bob Iger and Sundar Pichai reportedly got more involved in negotiations — the companies have reached a deal.
“Key elements” of the deal include, according to Disney:
Carriage of Disney’s full linear portfolio including all the ESPN networks, ABC, the Disney-branded channels, Freeform, the FX Networks, and the National Geographic channels
ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer service (Unlimited Plan) to be made available at no additional cost to YouTube TV subscribers
Access to a selection of live and on-demand programming from ESPN Unlimited inside YouTube TV
Select networks to be included in various genre-specific packages
The ability to include the Disney+, Hulu Bundle as part of select YouTube offerings
“We’re happy to share that we’ve reached an agreement with Disney that preserves the value of our service for our subscribers and future flexibility in our offers,” YouTube says. “Subscribers should see channels including ABC, ESPN and FX returning to their service over the course of the day, as well as any recordings that were previously in their Library. We apologize for the disruption and appreciate our subscribers’ patience as we negotiated on their behalf.”
“This new agreement reflects our continued commitment to delivering exceptional entertainment and evolving with how audiences choose to watch,’’ Disney Entertainment co-chairmen Alan Bergman and Dana Walden and ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement. “It recognizes the tremendous value of Disney’s programming and provides YouTube TV subscribers with more flexibility and choice. We are pleased that our networks have been restored in time for fans to enjoy the many great programming options this weekend, including college football.”
Update, November 14th: Added details from Disney’s press release.
