Overview
- ESPN, ABC, FX, National Geographic and other Disney networks are returning to YouTube TV, with previously stored DVR recordings being restored over the course of the day.
- The outage lasted roughly two weeks after the Oct. 30–31 contract expiration, disrupting college football and two Monday Night Football broadcasts for an estimated 10 million households.
- Under the agreement, ESPN Unlimited will be included for base-plan subscribers at no additional cost by the end of 2026, with select live and on-demand programming available inside YouTube TV.
- YouTube TV retains flexibility to offer genre-based channel packages and can include the Disney+–Hulu bundle in select offerings, while financial terms were not disclosed.
- YouTube TV issued one-time $20 credits during the blackout and apologized for the disruption, and reporting indicates Disney’s Bob Iger and Google’s Sundar Pichai became involved in late-stage talks.