New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on December 18, 2021) follows:

Relationships between YouTube TV and some platforms or channel providers have not been the best in recent months. This is reflected in cases like the complicated negotiations with Roku.

Disney is one of the content/channel providers that YouTube TV has recently been in negotiations with as well. Not reaching an agreement with Disney means losing channels like ABC, ESPN, and Disney itself.

YouTube TV and Disney couldn’t reach an agreement: goodbye to ESPN, ABC, and Disney Channels

Unfortunately, both companies could not reach an agreement. From now on, YouTube TV users lose access to those channels.

To try to compensate its users, YouTube TV offers a $15 discount on its monthly fee. So, It drops from $64.99 to $49.99 (while Disney content is off the platform).

Members, we worked hard to avoid this but were unable to reach a fair deal with Disney. We regret to share that as of December 17, all Disney-owned channels are unavailable on YouTube TV. While Disney content remains off our platform, we’ll decrease our price by $15/month.
Source

To know in detail all the channels and content that YouTube TV loses, the team offers a dedicated section where this is explained.

We know how frustrating it is to lose channels like ESPN and your local ABC station, and will continue conversations with Disney in hopes of restoring their content for you. For the full list of removed Disney-owned channels and live updates, check out http://yt.be/disneyupdate
Source

Some of the best YouTube TV Alternatives out there

Having said the above, many users will be looking for the best possible YouTube TV alternatives to enjoy the content they lost. So, here we will list some of the most outstanding ones to make it easier for you.

Disney+

You can keep YouTube TV and get back a lot of lost Disney content. Since YouTube TV lowers its monthly price by $15, you can try with Disney+, whose monthly payment starts from $7.99 ($79.99 for an annual membership).

FuboTV

If you’re primarily looking for sports content, FuboTV is one of the best alternatives out there. For a starting price of $64.99, it offers 113 channels (including ESPNs missed by YouTube TV).

Although this platform focuses on sports content, it also has the Disney and ABC channels that lost the service of Google.

DIRECTV

DIaRECTV also serves as a good alternative to YouTube TV. The service has an initial price of $64.99 per month, for which it offers more than 160 channels.

Like FuboTV, it also offers Disney and ABC channels that are no longer available on YouTube TV. It also has almost all ESPNs, except ESPN3.

HULU

HULU is another of the most attractive alternatives to YouTube TV. For a starting monthly price of $64.99, users have access to Disney Channels, ABC channels and almost all ESPNs (except ESPN3).

In the initial plan, you can enjoy 75+ live channels and all its streaming library. But, there is a downside, and it is a delay of around 2 minutes in live content.

Sling TV

Sling TV is one of the most affordable alternatives out there, although it makes certain sacrifices to do so. But, you can have all ESPNs (including ESPN3) for as little as $35 a month.

However, the initial plan offers only one Disney Channel (others are paid separately) and does not have the ABC channels. Actually, a combination of Sling TV and Disney+ can be very attractive to many.

Finally, we will update this article as new developments related to or better alternatives to YouTube TV arise. So stay tuned.

Update (December 20)

IST 10:00 am: Well, some good news for YouTube TV users as now, a deal has been reached with Disney and has already started to restore access to channels like ESPN and FX, and Disney recordings that were previously in your Library.

Additionally, local ABC stations should be restored over the course of the day.

youtube tv disney deal struck
Source

Update (December 21)

IST 11:45 am: YouTube now says that it is aware of the issue where the custom guide, ABC, ESPN, and other Disney channels are still not reappearing. They add that they’re working on a fix. More on that in our coverage.

PiunikaWeb started as purely an investigative tech journalism website with main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.

Jean Leon
1613 Posts

A tech enthusiast since ever. I like to always be up to date on the latest news in the industry and write about it. Twitter: @jean_ERdC

Next article View Article

Google Drive not letting users play videos, throws 'allowed playbacks has been exceeded' error

Google Drive users have been dealing with an issue for years where they get an 'allowed playbacks has been exceeded' error when trying to play videos. And Google has still...
Feb 20, 2024 2 Min Read