YouTube TV customers in NC lose access to ABC & ESPN. Here’s why
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- YouTube TV and Disney face a contract deadline Oct. 30 that could drop ABC and ESPN.
- YouTube TV seeks better Disney rates, but Disney expects YouTube TV to “pay fair rates.”
- YouTube TV will issue $20 credits if Disney’s content is lost for an “extended” time.
Update: The Walt Disney Co. and YouTube TV reached a multi-year distribution agreement, Disney announced Friday, Nov. 14, restoring Disney’s content to YouTube TV customers after a more than two-week blackout.
YouTube TV subscribers in North Carolina may soon lose access to channels like ABC and ESPN amid a dispute with The Walt Disney Co.
Disney, which owns ABC, ESPN, FX, National Geographic and Disney Channel, has not yet finalized a distribution agreement with YouTube TV. The current agreement expires at 11:59 p.m. Oct. 30.
The streamer, which has about 10 million subscribers, has asked Disney for a better rate for the company’s programming, CNBC reported.
What YouTube TV is saying
YouTube TV is trying to negotiate a deal with Disney “that pays them fairly for their content,” YouTube TV said.
Disney’s proposals would raise prices for YouTube TV customers and give them fewer choices, YouTube TV said. If no agreement is reached, YouTube TV said it will remove Disney’s content, which would include the Triangle ABC affiliate ABC11 (WTVD) and WSOC, the ABC affiliate in Charlotte, along with all other ABC affiliates.
If Disney’s content remains unavailable “for an extended period of time,” YouTube TV will offer subscribers a $20 credit.
What Disney is saying
YouTube TV’s parent company, Google, is “exploiting its position at the expense of their own customers,” a Disney spokesperson said in a statement to The News & Observer.
“We invest significantly in our content and expect our partners to pay fair rates that recognize that value,” Disney said.
The company has built a website addressed to YouTube TV customers, asking them to tell YouTube TV they want to keep Disney-owned networks such as ACC Network, Freeform, ABC and ESPN. The website contains links to message YouTube TV on social media platforms and directions for contacting YouTube TV via its online support page.
The website also contains a link to learn more about other providers, such as Spectrum and Disney-owned companies Fubo and Hulu + Live TV, which carry Disney’s networks.
Not YouTube TV’s first dispute
YouTube TV was recently involved in a similar dispute with NBCUniversal, but a long-term distribution agreement was reached in early October, keeping channels such as NBC, Bravo and USA on YouTube TV. That long-term agreement followed a short-term extension in late September that allowed YouTube TV customers to watch several major sporting events, including college football games, according to The Athletic.
YouTube TV customers faced a similar predicament over the summer. There was a risk that they would lose access to Fox content, including Fox Business, Fox News and Fox Sports, because a dispute between Fox and YouTube TV, which said Fox was “asking for payments that are far higher than what partners with comparable content offerings receive.”
The companies reached a short-term extension in late August, preventing disruption to YouTube TV subscribers, and then a long-term agreement the next day.
Similar disputes have also occurred between cable companies such as Spectrum and the networks. Carriers including Spectrum, AT&T/DirecTV and Dish pay networks and TV station owners a monthly license fee to carry their signals, The N&O previously reported.
This story was originally published October 28, 2025 at 4:57 PM with the headline "YouTube TV customers in NC lose access to ABC & ESPN. Here’s why."
