Benzinga | Dec 14, 2021 10:38AM EST

YouTube TV Warns Subscribers They Could Lose Disney Channels This Week

Subscribers to Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOG) YouTube TV are being warned they could possibly lose access to the Walt Disney Co.'s (NYSE:DIS) network lineup by the end of this week if contract negotiations between the companies fail.

What Happened: Disney's contract with YouTube TV for its ABC-owned stations, its ESPN offerings, Disney channels, Freeform, FX networks and National Geographic channels are scheduled to expire on Dec. 17 at 11:59 p.m. ET, according to a Variety report.

YouTube is placing the blame on the stalled negotiations on Disney, issuing a statement that if "Disney offers us equitable terms, we'll renew our agreement with them. However, if we are unable to reach a deal by Friday, the Disney-owned channels will no longer be available on YouTube TV and we will decrease our monthly price by $15, from $64.99 to $49.99 (while this content remains off our platform)."

For its part, Disney issued its own statement boasting it has a "highly successful track record of negotiating such agreements with providers of all types and sizes across the country and is committed to working with Google to reach a fair, market-based agreement."

Related Link: Analysis: Why Did Disney's 'West Side Story' Flop On Opening Weekend?

What's Next: YouTube advised its subscribers that if the companies cannot reach an agreement, they could "consider signing up for their own service, the Disney Bundle, which they offer for $13.99/month."

The spat with Disney is the latest carriage deal confrontation that YouTube TV has undertaken. Earlier in the fall, it had a similar give-and-take with Comcast Corporation's (NASDAQ:CMCSA) NBCUniversal, and last week it settled simmering differences with Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) that resulted in YouTube TV being taken off the Roku platform.

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