Walt Disney Company executives told employees on Friday that it appears their prized television properties ESPN and ABC will continue to be blacked out on Google-owned YouTube TV through the weekend.
“We realize this has been a challenging week, with everyone asking the same question as millions of YouTube TV subscribers during the busiest time of the year in sports: When will ESPN and ABC be back on the service?” read a memo sent to Disney employees on Friday.
The memo, which was first reported by Variety, was signed by Disney Entertainment co-chairs Dana Walden and Alan Bergman as well as by ESPN boss Jimmy Pitaro. A Disney rep confirmed the contents of the memo in an emailed statement to The Post.
“We wish we could give you that answer today, but unfortunately, we are headed into another sports-packed weekend without a deal in place.”
The three Disney execs said the House of Mouse “began these negotiations by offering YouTube TV a deal that would cost less overall than the terms of our recently expired license.”
“That’s real savings that YouTube TV could pass along to its customers,” the trio wrote in the memo.
“We’ve offered innovative, bespoke programming packages — tailored to sports fans, entertainment fans, kids and families — that would provide tremendous flexibility for YouTube TV and greater choice and value for its customers.”
Despite their efforts, however, YouTube TV “continues to insist on receiving preferential terms that are below market and has made few concessions.”
Meanwhile, YouTube said it is open to negotiating a fair deal with Disney to restore the entertainment giant’s networks to its YouTube TV pay‑TV service, while it accused Disney of misrepresenting facts and seeking higher rates than rivals and its own smaller platforms.
“Once again, Disney is resorting to their old tactics like leaking documents to the press, negotiating in public through their paid talent and misrepresenting the facts including from the deals they’ve offered and taking credit for our product proposals,” a Google spokesperson told The Post.
“Our team stands ready to make a fair agreement in line with their deals with other distributors and we encourage Disney to come to the table and do what’s best for our mutual customers.”
On Monday, YouTube TV proposed restoring ABC and ESPN, in response to Disney’s request to bring back ABC for Election Day coverage.
YouTube said Disney is seeking a rate above what Charter and DirecTV pay for the ABC networks. The video streaming service said it is not seeking better rates, as Disney claims.
The dispute centers on carriage fees, the per‑subscriber rates distributors pay to carry broadcast and cable networks.
YouTube TV, one of the largest U.S. pay‑TV distributors, has been negotiating this year with media companies that have threatened to pull their networks from the platform.
Disney’s networks went dark on YouTube TV late last Thursday after talks failed to produce a licensing deal, the companies said in separate statements.
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