The streaming first world isn’t the utopian world that was promised to us. If its not continued price hikes, it’s services removing content to avoid paying residuals, series being cancelled after a series even though you loved it, and the constant threat of deals with partners leaving you minus a load of channels.
The latter is rearing its head once again, and this time it’s Disney and YouTube TV having a peeing contest over whether Disney’s vast content arsenal will remain part of Google’s live TV streaming service. Goliath vs Goliath. Essentially, YouTube TV subscribers are at the mercy of whether two of America’s biggest corporations can come to a deal before Halloween. Talk about a nightmare before Christmas.
Should that not occur, it’s no longer simply a case of the Disney Channel going away, as it would have been in an era where just being and owning Disney was enough. These days it’d mean losing local ABC stations, all of the ESPN channels, and the FX networks that used to be owned by Fox.
Losing ESPN just when the NFL and college football seasons are getting into full swing, NBA basketball has returned and NHL hockey is back on the ice would be a huge blow to sports fans, but at least YouTube will offer a $20 credit if the networks go black for an extended period of time. YouTube TV currently costs $83 a month, plus tax and add-ons, in case you were wondering.
Disney is stating (not incorrectly) that YouTube TV makes a habit of these protracted standoffs with content partners, which are more often than not resolved – at least with short term extensions until new terms can be reached.
“For the fourth time in three months, Google’s YouTube TV is putting their subscribers at risk of losing the most valuable networks they signed up for,” a Disney told Variety. “This is the latest example of Google exploiting its position at the expense of their own customers. We invest significantly in our content and expect our partners to pay fair rates that recognise that value. If we don’t reach a fair deal soon, YouTube TV customers will lose access to ESPN and ABC, and all our marquee programming — including the NFL, college football, NBA and NHL seasons — and so much more.”
YouTube is accusing Disney of raising the rates to benefit its own alternatives like Hulu with Live TV, and the FuboTV streaming service it is trying to buy.
Skewing the market in order to give their own products and services preferential treatment? Why where could Disney have possibly got that idea from? Surely not from Google, a company that’s been found guilty in antitrust investigations around the world for abusing its dominant market position across a slew of sectors? Not that Google?
Look, there are no good guys here, so let’s just hope the billionaires sort it out and YouTube TV subscribers can just get on with watching Monday Night Football games that they’ve already paid for. Sound good?
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