Roughly 10 million YouTube TV subscribers miss out on many Week 10 college football games as part of Disney dispute

YouTube TV subscribers lost access to ESPN due to an unresolved carriage dispute between Google and Disney, affecting the ability to watch college football games on Disney’s networks. The issue arose as a new deal was not reached by the Thursday deadline, continuing into Saturday when the games began. This blackout primarily impacted fans of teams in the ACC, Big 12, and SEC whose games were broadcast on ESPN and related networks. The dispute affects approximately 10 million YouTube TV subscribers who have transitioned from traditional cable to streaming services.

Alternative streaming platforms gained new subscribers as fans sought ways to watch the games. Over-the-air broadcasts of ABC's SEC games were available to those with antennas, but ESPN network games remained inaccessible to YouTube TV users. Previous similar disputes have occurred, such as Disney's 13-day removal from DirecTV at the start of the 2024 college football season, which also affected NFL broadcasts.

In an effort to mitigate the impact, ESPN streamed its “College GameDay” pregame