YouTube TV Subscribers Were Not Happy When ESPN Was Suddenly Removed From The Platform

In a bit of news that had been out there for a few days, YouTube TV dropped all Disney platforms at midnight on Saturday. That’s because the streaming service and media conglomerate are in the midst of negotiations that could not get resolved as of Dec. 17, which led to YouTube TV putting out this statement:

As that second tweet mentions, ESPN was caught in the crosshairs of all of this. Because the Worldwide Leader is a Disney property, there are now a grand total of zero ESPN channels on the platform, in addition to local ABC channels that will carry things like NBA games, college football games, and the occasional Monday Night Football broadcast.

These sorts of disputes have become increasingly common as streaming has become a more popular option for consumers — YouTube TV, in fact, was pulled from the Roku store earlier this year before that got resolved — but that doesn’t make these any less frustrating. And from the moment that ESPN channels went dark, sports fans began expressing their frustrations about being caught in the middle of something so silly.

https://twitter.com/whystunnr/status/1472076299841814532

One theory out there is that Disney is making a business decision here from which they’ll benefit greatly.

The decision to remove all ESPN channels comes amid college football’s bowl season, the NBA season kicking into high gear ahead of its highly-anticipated Christmas Day slate, and as we learned on Friday, a Monday Night Football doubleheader.