YouTube TV negotiations continue as Disney is ‘ready to go as long as they want’

Will Sattelberg | Nov 13 2025 - 8:10 am PT

YouTube TV subscribers are about to enter their third straight week of Disney-owned properties being held off-the-air as part of a carriage dispute between the two brands, and while momentum is seemingly building towards a deal, there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight.

Over the past day, several new reports — alongside Disney’s earnings call — have delivered new light on where both Google and Disney stand in their ongoing negotiations. The good news is that the two parties are continuing to talk, with The Athletic reporting “renewed momentum” as Disney CEO Bob Iger and Google CEO Sundar Pichai have both become more involved with the conversations. The bad news, however, is that a deal still appears to be far enough away to potentially impact a third weekend of college football.

Awful Announcing reports that Google is pushing back on the idea that it’s after a lower rate than its competitors, as we first heard earlier this week. A deal that undercut the current prices paid by traditional cable providers like Comcast or Charter would trigger a “most favored nation” clause, lowering rates for YouTube TV’s competitors across the board. According to sources, however, Google is actually trying to get Disney to agree to the same rates as other TV services, with a clause built in to trigger those lower rates whenever YouTube TV becomes the US’s top distributor.

That could happen sooner than you might think. With Google’s rivals all shrinking in market share, YouTube TV is the only platform actually growing in size, likely thanks to the hardware-less convenience of the sign-up process and, of course, a lucrative partnership with the NFL. Awful Announcing‘s report also discloses that ESPN pricing is settled; it’s ABC’s fees that are holding up any eventual agreement.

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As if that’s not enough action, Disney held a conference call this morning to discuss its most recent earnings report, and naturally, a major point of contention was this continued blackout. As reported by Deadline, CEO Bob Iger wants his eventual deal to “reflect the value” he sees Disney delivering, telling shareholders that “the offer that’s on the table is commensurate with deals that we’ve already struck with, actually, distributors that are larger than they are.”

Disney CFO Hugh Johnston was more direct, both in his comments on the earnings call and in an interview with CNBC. According to Johnston, Disney is “ready to go as long as [YouTube TV] wants to.” In other words, as we enter the third week of this blackout, YouTube TV subscribers will likely once again need to find somewhere else to stream Dallas at Las Vegas come Monday night. At least you can (manually) score a $20 discount for the month.