Copyright Athlon Sports
The contract standoff between ESPN and YouTube TV has caused sports fans to band together in uproar over the past week. Since Oct. 31, Disney’s entire catalog of networks, including ABC and all ESPN affiliates, has been unavailable on Google-owned streaming service YouTube TV. Since the two media mammoths’ contract expired last Thursday night, YouTube TV users have not been able to watch some of their favorite sports shows and games that have been broadcast on Disney-owned channels. This long list includes last weekend’s slate of college football matchups, like the Florida Gators facing the Georgia Bulldogs, the Cincinnati Bearcats against the Utah Utes and the Oklahoma Sooners taking on the Tennessee Volunteers. Another big event that was blacked out was the “Monday Night Football” game between the Arizona Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys. Reports swirled on Friday that Disney and Google are still not close to a deal. This means that if the two companies are unable to reach an agreement by Saturday, YouTube TV users would miss another weekend of college football and, possibly, another NFL game on Monday, when the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Green Bay Packers. With this dispute continuing, top Disney executives reached out to their employees to call out Google. On Friday, The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand and Dan Shanoff obtained a memo sent out by three high-level Disney executives in Disney Entertainment co-chairmen Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, and ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro. In this memo, the three executives explained the situation to ESPN employees, calling out Google for its stance in the negotiations. “Rather than compete on a level playing field, Google’s YouTube TV has approached these negotiations as if it were the only player in the game,” the memo read, according to Marchand and Shanoff. “It goes without saying that the reason so many consumers value our programming above others is because we invest in the best talent, creators and content in the world, and we cannot allow anyone to undercut our ability to do so.” This memo brings the first bit of hostility that has been shared with the public from either side since the standoff began over a week ago. With the two sides seemingly not near an agreement, more sports fans who use YouTube TV could look to express their frustration by seeking out alternative sources to watch games.
