Your YouTube TV subscription just got cheaper – here’s why

UPDATE 12/20/2021 9:24 AM ET: Disney and YouTube finally reach a deal to keep Disney channels on YouTube TV. Read more here. The original story follows below.

Well, the inevitable happened. YouTube TV no longer carries Disney-owned channels like ABC, ESPN, FX, and more. The two companies were trying to negotiate a new agreement but couldn’t close on a new deal, thus ending their relationship at midnight December 17.

YouTube TV sent out an email to its subscribers notifying them of the change and informed customers would see a $15 discount to make up for the loss. YouTube TV typically costs $64.99 per month, but with the absence of Disney-owned channels, the rate drops to $50 per month.

In a blog post, YouTube TV says they’re actively working to “continue conversations with Disney to advocate on your behalf in hopes of restoring their content on YouTube TV.”

“We’ve held good faith negotiations with Disney for several months,” YouTube TV writes. “Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we’ve been unable to reach an equitable agreement before our existing one expired, and their channels are no longer available on YouTube TV. We will be decreasing our monthly price by $15, from $64.99 to $49.99 while this content remains off of our platform.”

READ MORE: YouTube TV rolls out picture-in-picture support for iPhones

Disney isn’t letting Google have the last word, though. Following ongoing negotiations with YouTube TV, Disney said in a statement late Friday that “they have declined to reach a fair deal with us based on market terms and conditions.”

“As a result, their subscribers have lost access to our unrivaled portfolio of networks including live sports and news plus kids, family and general entertainment programming from ABC, the ESPN networks, the Disney channels, Freeform, the FX networks and the National Geographic channels,” the company added.

“We stand ready to reach an equitable agreement with Google as quickly as possible in order to minimize the inconvenience to YouTube TV viewers by restoring our networks. We hope Google will join us in that effort.”

Disney owns a lot of channels, and their absence on YouTube TV will be painfully obvious. Here are all the Disney-owned channels that YouTube TV will be losing:

As you can see, that’s a huge chunk of channels gone. So it makes a lot of sense why YouTube is offering a $15 discount. I mean, it’s only fair. But what happens to the customers who rely on YouTube TV for these channels? Are they supposed to just wait this out?

READ MORE: How to cancel your YouTube TV subscription

Thankfully, consumers have options, and they’re not contractually obliged to stay. There are other options like Hulu with Live TV or even Fubo TV. And in most cases, some of these platforms will offer users a free trial to sign up. Luckily, there are other options out there.

Hopefully, this all blows over soon, and both companies agree to a new deal. In the meantime, a cheaper YouTube TV subscription doesn’t sound all that bad.

UPDATE 12/20/2021 9:24 AM ET: Disney and YouTube finally reach a deal to keep Disney channels on YouTube TV. Read more here.

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