Google’s Youtube TV announced Sunday that Disney-owned programming will return to the platform after some negotiations.
“We’re happy to share that we’ve reached an agreement with Disney to return their content to YouTube TV while preserving a $64.99/mo. price for our members. 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 Library. We will also be turning on the local ABC stations over the course of the day,” said a statement from YouTube.
The restoration comes after Disney-owned channels, including ABC and ESPN, were yanked from YouTube TV Friday night. Disney and Google were unable to reach a new carriage agreement, which YouTube addressed in a statement Friday: “We’ve held good faith negotiations with Disney for several months. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we’ve been unable to reach an equitable agreement before our existing one expired, and their channels are no longer available on YouTube TV. We will be decreasing our monthly price by $15, from $64.99 to $49.99 while this content remains off of our platform.”
In Sunday’s announcement, YouTube added that the $15 discount is still in play, though it will be “a one-time credit for all impacted members.”
YouTube TV says it has around 4 million subscribers, similar to Hulu’s Live TV service. Both of those are far behind the major distributors like Comcast, AT&T and Spectrum, which have between 15 and 20 million paying customers.