Disney Lost $7 Million Every Day During YouTube TV Carriage Fight

For more than two weeks, Disney pulled its channels from YouTube TV last fall. That meant ESPN, ABC, FX, and many other important channels went dark for subscribers of the largest live TV streaming service. Even worse, the battle played out during the all-important football season.

But Disney wanted more money than YouTube TV was offering, so the stalemate was on. And it ultimately cost Disney $110 million in lost revenue – about $7 million every day the channels were missing.

YouTube TV also suffered some losses, but we may never know how much. Parent company Google doesn’t provide much transparency thereIn one mid-blackout survey, 1 in 4 YouTube TV subscribers said they had canceled or were planning to cancel the service without the Disney-owned channels.

The financial hit emerged as Disney reported their most recent earnings today.

The entertainment giant may feel it has a bit more leverage in negotiations since it launched the ESPN Unlimited app in August. Sports fans frustrated with any stalemate can just grab the channel on its own, without the bloated channel bundles typically attached.

But Sling TV managed to annoy Disney by offering inexpensive access to ESPN for as little as one day. Disney sued Sling, but a judge ruled against them.

All of this is playing out against the seemingly unalterable facts of live television:

1. The audience is shrinking. People are dropping live TV altogether or never signing up in the first place.
2. The only thing people watch is live sports. Football alone accounted for 90 of the 100 most-watched TV broadcasts in 2025.
3. Because sports is the only thing that reliably draws an audience, sports leagues are gouging broadcasters for TV rights.
4. Broadcasters pass that price on to you, which increases the acceleration of fact #1.

Disney knew it had a ton of leverage with football rights on ABC and ESPN and it played its hand. It led us to wonder if the company deliberately sabotaged talks with YouTube TV to push subscribers to try ESPN Unlimited. But $110 million is a lot to lose to promote a new streaming service if that was their plan.