Amid an ongoing feud with YouTube TV, Disney asked the streamer to temporarily revive ABC in favor of “the public interest,” to which YouTube TV has not only said no, but said that its subscribers specifically chose not to watch ABC on the past two Election Days.
Last week, Disney-owned channels such as ESPN and ABC went dark for YouTube TV subscribers as the two companies failed to reach an agreement for carrying the channels on the third-largest pay-TV provider in the US. In the time since, there’s been no clear progress on a new deal.
Despite that, Disney has made a big request.
Speaking to Deadline earlier today, Disney publicly asked for YouTube TV to temporarily restore ABC for its subscribers for US Election Day, November 4. The company asked:
Despite the impasse that led to the current blackout, we have asked YouTube TV to restore ABC for Election Day so subscribers have access to the information they rely on. We believe in putting the public interest first and hope YouTube TV will take this small step for their customers while we continue to work toward a fair agreement.
In its own blog post, YouTube TV shares a letter that was sent to Disney in which it rejects the request to restore ABC for the next 24 hours. The letter says that YouTube “[agrees] that the right priority here is to give customers what they want,” but points out that restoring ABC for 24 hours would “cause customer confusion among those who may briefly see ABC on YouTube TV only to lose it again shortly after.”
The letter further points out that ABC is not the only option for Election Day coverage and that, in fact, the “vast majority” of YouTube TV subscribers didn’t tune into ABC for the prior two years’ Election Day coverage.
There are plenty of other options for customers – election news information is very widely available across other broadcast stations and news networks on YouTube TV, as well as on the main YouTube service, for free. In fact, on the last two U.S. election days, the vast majority of tuned in YouTube TV subscribers chose not to watch ABC.
YouTube goes on to call out ABC for trying the exact same tactic in a blackout with DirecTV last year.
The letter ultimately offers a concession that Disney could “immediately” restore both ABC and ESPN to YouTube TV while negotiations are ongoing as “those are the channels that people want.” The letter then leaves the situation in Disney’s hands, saying that YouTube could “get these channels live in hours.”
As of 11pm ET on November 3, no such actions have taken place, and the negotiations continue behind closed doors. In a prior report, a YouTube TV executive called Disney “unnecessarily aggressive” in those negotiations.
More on YouTube TV:
Follow Ben: Twitter/X, Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
