After having already missed out on a slate of college football over the weekend, millions of sports fans look set to be deprived of Monday Night Football as well.
Disney and Google‘s bitter standoff over their carriage dispute has entered its fourth day, after already robbing viewers of a jam-packed weekend of sporting action following the technology giant’s decision to rip programming from YouTube TV.
YouTube TV, the popular chord-cutting streaming service owned by Google, dramatically pulled every channel owned by Disney, including ESPN networks and ABC, late on the night of October 30.
And four days later, the dramatic in-fighting is continuing to cost sports fans as 10 million YouTube TV subscribers remain without access to ESPN and ABC ahead of the NFL’s Monday Night Football.
As of early Monday afternoon, the two parties had failed to reach a resolution leaving the Week 9 clash between the Arizona Cardinals and the Dallas Cowboys in jeopardy.
‘We’ll continue to negotiate with Disney in the hopes of achieving resolution, but we can’t speculate at this point about when that may happen or if their content will be restored on the platform,’ a statement shared to YouTube’s X account read on Monday.
10 millions sports fans are at the risk of missing out on Monday Night Football this week
The Dallas Cowboys (pictured: quarterback Dak Prescott) face the Arizona Cardinals
As it stands, in order to view the primetime matchup between the Cardinals and Cowboys, football fans would have to sign up to ESPN directly with subscription services starting from $29.99 per month.
And as the two leading companies continue their bickering at the cost of sports fans’ enjoyment, social media users hit out, expressing their fury at either having to fork out extra fees on top of their existing paid subscriptions, or risk having to go without Monday night’s action.
‘I just remembered; I can’t watch MNF tonight ‘cause of YouTube TV smhhhhh,’ one football fan fumed on X.
‘@NFL @espn @YouTubeTV this will be the first time I can remember I won’t be watching Monday Night Football because you guys can’t figure it out I hope the ratings plummet and I’ll be canceling YouTube TV before my next bill,’ another threatened.
A third issued a similar warning, posting: ‘If I can’t watch Monday night football tonight with my YouTube tv subscription, I’m canceling @YouTubeTV and @espn/@DisneyPlus entirely. Will happily and very easily find free streams. Greedy mfkers.’
‘I just wanna give a big shout out to @Disney & @espn for not letting me watch Monday Night Football tonight. Disney doubled their profits to $5 billion+ last year and yet somehow can’t sign an agreement with YouTube TV to let me watch f***ing football,’ another claimed taking direct aim at Disney. ‘F*** you, House of Mouse.’
Other panicked viewers turned to the NFL in the hope that the league itself could somehow forced Disney and Google into a peace treaty in time for Monday night.
Amid Disney and Google’s bitter standoff, football fans hit out at the two parties
One asked: ‘Can you please bully ESPN & YouTube TV into getting their shit together before Monday Night Football? @NFL.’
‘YouTube TV has still blacked out all ESPN, ABC channels. College football games already missed. YTTV has around 10 million subscribers. I know not all are sports fans. With Monday Night Football, w/Cowboys tonight, wonder if NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is on the phone,’ another theorized.
The Cardinals’ clash with the Cowboys is set to kick off at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas at 8:15pm ET on ABC and ESPN.
Millions of YouTube TV subscribers already missed out on a chunk of crucial college football action on Saturday.
ABC aired Texas’ thrilling win over Vanderbilt, Georgia’s tight win over rival Florida and Oklahoma’s victory over Tennessee. Meanwhile, SMU’s upset over Miami, Notre Dame’s victory against Boston College and Utah’s win over Cincinnati were shown on ESPN.
Fans will be desperately hoping that the blackout ends by next weekend when ABC will show undefeated No. 8 BYU vs. No. 9 Texas Tech at noon, No. 3 Texas A&M vs. No. 19 Missouri at 3:30pm and No. 4 Alabama vs. LSU at 7:30pm.
ESPN will have No. 5 Georgia vs. Mississippi State at noon, No. 18 Miami vs. Syracuse at 3:30pm and No. 12 Virginia vs. Wake Forest at 7pm.
It also threatens a slate of enticing NBA matchups midweek, including the New York Knicks’ clash against the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Los Angeles Lakers’ matchup against the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday.
Last week, ESPN had appeared to accuse Google and YouTube TV of prioritizing their own greed at the expense of their subscribers.
The ESPN blackout on YouTube TV already cost millions of fans college football action
‘Unfortunately, Google’s YouTube TV has chosen to deny their subscribers the content they value most by refusing to pay fair rates for our channels, including ESPN and ABC,’ a statement from the network read.
‘Without a new agreement in place, their subscribers will not have access to our programming, which includes the best lineup in live sports – anchored by the NFL, NBA, and college football, with 13 of the top 25 college teams playing this weekend.
‘With a $3 trillion market cap, Google is using its market dominance to eliminate competition and undercut the industry-standard terms we’ve successfully negotiated with every other distributor. We know how frustrating this is for YouTube TV subscribers and remain committed to working toward a resolution as quickly as possible.’
Yet, in a responding statement, YouTube TV seemingly placed the blame on Disney, claiming that it would not agree to the company’s terms if they disadvantaged their subscribers.
‘Members, when we renew our contracts with network partners, we advocate for fair pricing to offer you the best TV experience,’ a statement shared by YouTube TV’s X account read.
‘Our contract with Disney has reached its renewal date, and we’ll not agree to terms that disadvantage our members while benefiting Disney’s TV products’
‘Despite our best efforts, we have not been able to reach a fair deal, and starting today, Disney programming will not be available on YouTube TV. This means you will no longer be able to watch channels like ABC and ESPN or access recordings from these networks in your Library.
‘We know how disruptive it is to lose channels you enjoy, and we’re committed to continuing to work with Disney to reach an agreement. If their content is unavailable for an extended period of time, we’ll offer our members a $20 credit.’
