YouTube TV customers have gone nearly two weeks without having access to Disney’s suite of television channels, including ESPN and ABC. But it seems that the two sides could be closing in on a deal.
According to a report by The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand on Wednesday, there has been “renewed momentum” on a deal that would end Disney’s blackout on YouTube TV. Rubber is apparently hitting the road. Per Marchand, both Disney CEO Bob Iger and Google CEO Sundar Pichai have become more involved in the negotiations, signaling that both sides could be serious about getting a deal done sooner rather than later.
Another source of urgency may be Disney’s quarterly earnings call, which is scheduled for Thursday afternoon. Awful Announcing estimated at the onset of this dispute that Disney was losing approximately $5 million each day it remained off of YouTube TV. More recently, a Morgan Stanley analyst put that estimate at $4.3 million each day. Either way, it’s not an ideal situation going into a call with investors, even if Disney has a $200 billion market capitalization.
There’s also perhaps a bit of pressure coming from Washington. FCC chairman Brendan Carr came out publicly this week and wrote on social media, “Google and Disney need to get a deal done and end this blackout. People should have the right to watch the programming they paid for—including football. Get it done!” Carr, of course, has used his pulpit to pressure media companies several times since becoming head of the FCC.
Typically, these deals have a tendency to come together quickly. YouTube TV’s negotiations with Fox and NBC earlier this year both went down to the wire, but were reached with little acrimony.
The Disney dispute has been different. YouTube TV is asking for rates lower than its peer distributors once it becomes the largest pay TV service in the country. Disney is worried that offering YouTube TV a lower rate will trigger clauses in its other contracts that would force the company to match those rates for other distributors.
Eventually, something will have to give. Both sides are losing money (and the goodwill of consumers) with each passing day. Maybe an earnings call is just what the doctor ordered to speed things along.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.