YouTube TV and Disney Reach Deal Ending Two-Week Blackout of ESPN, ABC (variety.com)

(Friday November 14, 2025 @10:30PM (BeauHD) from the regularly-scheduled-greed dept.)

YouTube TV and Disney have [1]ended their two-week carriage standoff , restoring ESPN, ABC, and other Disney networks under a new multiyear deal. Variety reports:

> Under the new agreement, ESPN's full lineup of sports -- including content from ESPN Unlimited -- will be made available on YouTube TV to base-plan subscribers at no additional cost by the end of 2026. In addition, access to a selection of live and on-demand programming from ESPN Unlimited will be available inside YouTube TV.

>

> The deal also lets YouTube include the Disney+ and Hulu bundle as part of "select YouTube offerings." According to Disney, "select networks" will be included in various genre-specific packages that YouTube TV expects to launch in the future. [...] The deal supersedes their prior distribution agreement, inked in December 2021 after a two-day blackout.

[1] https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/youtube-tv-disney-blackout-deal-renewal-espn-abc-1236567658/

more systems need the genre-specific packages drop (Score:1)

by Joe_Dragon ( 2206452 )

more systems need the genre-specific packages drop ESPN from basic cable.

More blackouts! Longer blackouts! (Score:1)

by RightwingNutjob ( 1302813 )

The fate of democracy...er I mean television...depends on it. Somehow.

2-0 (Score:1)

by registrations_suck ( 1075251 )

I guess I'm 2-0 for recent blackouts. But news, yet seem to have had no effect on me. As if they never even happened!

I wonder what the next one will be. Oh, I know!! The Starbucks strike. No matter how long it goes on, that will be 3-0 for me.

Praise The Gods... (Score:2)

by phfpht ( 654492 )

... Our National Nightmare is OVER!

Good for them, I guess (Score:2)

by leonbev ( 111395 )

I gave up on YouTube TV and switched to DirectTV streaming a week ago, but I'm glad that they finally came to an agreement anyway.

Maybe I'll switch back someday, but right now I'm saving $5 a month with DirectTV and basically have the same channel package. I don't feel the need to switch back just in time for the next big carrier contract dispute or price increase.