YouTube TV Regains ABC, ESPN, and Disney Channels
After a standoff that lasted more than two weeks, YouTube TV once again has access to important Disney-owned channels like ABC, ESPN, FX, and the Disney Channel.
If the channels have not reappeared in your channel guide, YouTube TV says they will become available within the day.
$82.99/mo.
It’s the latest truce for YouTube TV after resolving short-lived standoffs this year with Paramount (CBS, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, etc.), Fox, and Comcast (NBC, Bravo, MSNBC, CNBC, etc.). YouTube TV did walk away from Univision and its sister networks when the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement.
What Channels Have Returned to YouTube TV?
Disney owns some of the most popular channels on TV. Here’s what users will be able to watch once again:
- ABC
- ESPN
- ESPN2
- Freeform
- FX
- FXX
- Disney Junior
- SEC Network
- Nat Geo
- Nat Geo Wild
- Disney Channel
- ESPNU
- FXM
- ABC News Live
- ACC Network
- Disney XD
- Localish
- ESPNews
- ESPN Deportes (Spanish Plan)
- Baby TV Español (Spanish Plan)
- Nat Geo Mundo (Spanish Plan)
Will the Price of YouTube TV Go Up?
You can bet on it. When these services renegotiate, the number is always higher, and YouTube TV will pass that on to consumers.
Considering Hulu + Live TV now costs $89.99, that seems like a logical price point for YouTube TV to climb to. It won’t happen immediately. Expect the price hike to kick in sometime next year.
Ideally, YouTube TV would split up its channels into different tiers like Sling TV or DIRECTV. Those services are far more flexible on price because you don’t have to pay for as many channels you may not watch. YouTube TV’s “take it or leave it” channel lineup has something for everybody, but it also has plenty of content that goes unwatched.
In its failed negotiations with Univision, a YouTube spokesperson said the service dropped the channels because they represented a “tiny fraction of overall consumption.”
Disney’s channels are titans in the dwindling TV ecosystem. ABC and ESPN are two of the six most-watched channels in the country. Services that don’t offer them (like Philo and Frndly TV) are far less expensive.
We know from court filings that Disney charges TV companies at least $9.42 per subscriber per month. Or, at least that was the rate in mid-2024. Now that ESPN is available direct-to-consumer, Disney may be willing to play chicken with live TV providers that don’t want to pay whatever they ask. If cord-cutters get angry at providers that don’t have ESPN, they may sign up for Hulu + Live TV, Fubo, or ESPN’s own streaming app — all of which are Disney-owned products.
Until we get a new live TV streamer willing to offer lower prices and shake up the competition, we’re locked into a cycle of carriage disputes and price hikes.
Be sure to follow Streaming Smarter on Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, and YouTube to discover streaming news, discounts, and tips!
Discover more from Streaming Smarter
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
