Disney-owned channels, including ABC and ESPN, remain dark on YouTube TV as the carriage standoff enters its second week, with attention turning to Monday Night Football's match-up between the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers as a possible catalyst for a resolution.
Neither Disney nor YouTube TV has commented publicly since Friday, although sources familiar with the negotiations said YouTube TV submitted a revised proposal over the weekend. The company has also offered subscribers a $20 credit, saying in an email that it has been working in good faith to reach a deal.
The current dispute has reached the ten-day mark, the same point at which a previous standoff between Disney and Charter's Spectrum was settled in 2023, on the day of Monday Night Football's season debut. That precedent, together with a 21% year-on-year fall in viewership for last week's Cowboys-Cardinals game, has prompted speculation that the Eagles-Packers contest could break the deadlock.
YouTube TV is said to over-index with sports fans, holding rights to NFL Sunday Ticket and offering a Multiview feature. Subscribers still have ways to watch the game: it is available on mobile via NFL+, and the ABC simulcast can be received free over the air. Research estimates vary on how many homes use terrestrial signals, with Nielsen putting the figure at 18% and a Horowitz Research study from April 2025 at 32%.
Disney, meanwhile, has insisted the dispute is about fair market value for its networks. The media giant recently closed its acquisition of a 70% stake in Fubo, which together with Hulu + Live TV gives it around six million subscribers, making it the sixth-largest US pay-TV operator. A veteran pay-TV executive noted that Disney is now both a major programmer and a distributor, a factor likely to influence the negotiation. Disney strongly denied suggestions that it was using Fubo and Hulu Live as leverage.
