The new carriage contract means Disney-owned properties will return to the streaming service after a two-day outage.
Disney and Google have signed a deal to restore ESPN, ABC and other channels to YouTube TV, two days after a contract dispute knocked them off the streamer.
Google said the price for YouTube TV would remain $64.99/month with the Disney renewal but that it will still grant $15 credit to users that it promised when the networks went dark Friday night (December 18) after the companies had failed to reach a new deal.
In a statement, Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution said: “We are pleased to announce that after a brief disruption, we have reached a new distribution agreement with Google’s YouTube TV for continued carriage of our portfolio of networks. We appreciate Google’s collaboration to reach fair terms that are consistent with the market, and we’re thrilled that our robust lineup of live sports and news plus kids, family and general entertainment programming is in the process of being restored to YouTube TV subscribers across the country.”
YouTube added: “We have already started to restore access to Disney networks like ESPN and FX, including their live and on-demand content, as well as any recordings that were previously in your [DVR] Library. We will also be turning on the local ABC stations over the course of the day. As we promised a $15 discount while the Disney content remained off-platform, we will still honour a one-time credit for all impacted Base Plan members.”
YouTube TV surpassed 3m subscribers as of fall 2020, according to Google parent Alphabet. Some Wall Street analysts believe it now has more than 4m, making it the largest internet TV bundle. It ranks among the top 10 pay-TV distributors of any kind.
