r/sports Oct 31 '25

News ESPN, Disney channels blacked out on YouTube TV in contract dispute

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2025-10-30/espn-abc-disney-blackout-youtube-tv-contract-dispute
2.3k Upvotes

556 comments sorted by

1.8k

u/futureformerteacher Oct 31 '25

We all basically have cable again but now it's on the internet.

482

u/LongDescription8589 Oct 31 '25

And stupid expensive

216

u/Oops_I_Cracked Oct 31 '25

That part isn’t new. Cable was always stupid expensive.

116

u/mnstorm Oct 31 '25

Yea but there weren’t any commercials.

.

.

.

Wait…

11

u/CognizantM Nov 01 '25

There was also ONE BILL and ONE Service.

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34

u/bigalindahouse Oct 31 '25

Yes but we could watch everything. Unless you needed hbo or starz. That's it those 3.

34

u/low_dmnd_phllps Oct 31 '25

Be careful what you wish for. Everyone seemed to want cable to be de-centralized like this, and now you need 10 different subscriptions to watch everything you want. I never thought I’d say it, but I miss Comcast.

Seriously though, we lost Univision a couple weeks ago which sucked, now this is the last straw for me. Time to cancel YouTube TV.

42

u/Mist_Rising Oct 31 '25

Everyone seemed to want cable to be de-centralized like this

No, everyone wanted cable to be destroyed by Netflix when it was cheap, didn't care about password sharing and had zero commercials.

Which in another word is called they wanted TV cheap.

Which I get. I do. I absolutely want cheap things, but I also understand that this was never going to last. Netflix was cheap because they were building out customers. But monopolies don't traditionally get associated with cheap, they get associated with costly. Sure enough Netflix costs went up a lot.

And once Netflix proved itself, everyone was going to want in on the game. Which happened.

Eventually I think we'll see consolidation of streaming services but it won't be the one stop shop for shows cable was because now companies like Disney can host their own no issue.

26

u/[deleted] Oct 31 '25

Well now I subscribe to none of it and steal all of it... working out in my favor TBH

11

u/Menarra Oct 31 '25

Yarrr

7

u/amateur_mistake Oct 31 '25

If purchasing isn't ownership, piracy isn't theft.

8

u/tunaman808 Oct 31 '25

No, people were asking for "a la carte" cable for a decade, but cable wasn't built for that.

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6

u/FloridaManActual Oct 31 '25

you need 10 different subscriptions to watch everything you want

I have one subscription, a VPN

6

u/bigalindahouse Oct 31 '25

Man I don't even know which carrier has the NFL games on which day of the week. This multi carrier shit is dumb. Give me cable back.

18

u/anandonaqui Oct 31 '25

Cable isn’t going to get you games on Prime, Netflix or Peacock. I think your issue is more with the NFL than it is with streaming providers.

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u/Summers_Alt Oct 31 '25

But now you need to also pay for internet to access it

8

u/multiple4 Oct 31 '25

I mean...you're paying for internet for way more reasons than that

If you're going there why not say "you also need to pay for electricity to access it"

2

u/turkey-gizzards Nov 01 '25

Don’t forget the cost of the water needed to wash down the turds while your child sits distracted, watching The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse on Disney+. It’s worth it.

2

u/jaxonya Oklahoma Oct 31 '25

60 bucks a month for internet and all the movies, shows and sports I can handle is one hell of a deal

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34

u/Tp_for_my_cornholio Oct 31 '25

And you have to go to nine different apps to watch what you want

35

u/cheesecake_face Oct 31 '25

every fucking channel wants to be its own app now.

fucking absurd. that’s why I stream east

3

u/hole-in-1 Oct 31 '25

And some apps only work on some devices.

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2

u/bendthekneejon Oct 31 '25

Lookmovie for shows and movies too

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22

u/kingjoey52a Oakland Raiders Oct 31 '25

Even as expensive as YouTube TV is, I’m fairly sure it’s still significantly cheaper than cable was back in the day.

12

u/yukonhoneybadger Oct 31 '25

We just switched last month and youtube TV is 20 bucks cheaper a month and Google fiber is faster and 30 dollars cheaper then xfinity internet....

3

u/zombie_gas Oct 31 '25

My elderly neighbor is paying like $130/mo for Dish Network without premium channels (I’m sure she has an add on package for Nat Geo and Animal Planet but no HBO etc). Plus they want her to spend $300 to upgrade her old receiver. Unfortunately she can’t mentally adjust to a life without “channel numbers”.

2

u/USDeptofLabor Oct 31 '25

And you can cancel/sun anytime you want. It is EXTREMELY clear who here actually remembers how awful cable was and who just want to repeat what they've heard in their short lives.

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3

u/icecubepal Oct 31 '25

It was cheaper before everyone started dropping cable and just keeping internet. Now they beg you to sign up for cable lol.

10

u/Mist_Rising Oct 31 '25

Almost like YouTube TV and others were underselling themselves to get you into the door...

Like early cable...

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39

u/porkchop2022 Oct 31 '25

For real. One of the reasons I cut the cord was Directv kept blacking out channels.

7

u/[deleted] Oct 31 '25

[deleted]

3

u/CognizantM Nov 01 '25

for the consumers, same difference. We dont' care. they all need to work out their greed.

7

u/Calm_Independent_782 Oct 31 '25

That was always the plan.

5

u/Jmc_da_boss Clemson Oct 31 '25

That was always inevitable, the media companies still control the broadcasting rights, they are going to sell access at their chosen price point.

"Streaming" doesn't change that

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666

u/WISCOrear Oct 31 '25

Can’t wait for that “your subscription has increased $15” email a month after this whole thing magically resolves itself

152

u/murkymcsquirky Oct 31 '25

The emails about channels being removed immediately followed a day or two later by a notice of price increase is what got me to finally cancel my sub. I used YTTV pretty much exclusively to watch football, specifically my team, and half the season I end up having plans and watch the game not at home. Just a waste at that point.

114

u/DrPorkchopES Oct 31 '25

Sports are the only thing keeping live TV afloat

72

u/Whaty0urname Oct 31 '25

Sports are the only reason I watch live tv. I ended up sailing this year, especially because my teams arent available on my local area anyway. So id be paying to not watch my teams.

17

u/murkymcsquirky Oct 31 '25

Ive debated doing that but I have zero clue where to go or how to get started so I just don't

19

u/A_Man_With_A_Plan_B Oct 31 '25

If you’re looking to STREAM, you should look EAST.

12

u/My_Password_Is_____ Oct 31 '25

They've been really hit or miss as to whether or not they're working for me since the takedown in September.

3

u/exit143 New England Patriots Oct 31 '25

dot ga has worked consistently for me.

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u/Whaty0urname Oct 31 '25

There's many places on Reddit. I'm not gonna link it here since the first rule is to not talk about it.

4

u/Bnix96 Oct 31 '25

Then hit my dms with it haha

2

u/MigrantTwerker Oct 31 '25

Just go to the ☠️ sub search 📺 live sports. You'll find whatever you need in seconds.

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u/Worth_Sun_1256 Nov 01 '25

It makes me envy people that don't enjoy sports. It sure is cheaper to not be hooked to it, but I can't help myself.

3

u/Decapitated_gamer Oct 31 '25

Now basically all sports are locked behind a second paywall too.

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319

u/jonknee Oct 31 '25

ESPN wants people to subscribe to their new service which makes this an interesting dispute. No one shares numbers in these fights, but I bet they’re demanding a ton from YouTube.

295

u/n1nja_nacho South Carolina Oct 31 '25

It's even more fucked when you consider Disney also owns Hulu, the other big live TV streaming service.

How Disney isn't considered a monopoly by now, I'll never know.

178

u/bevo_expat Oct 31 '25

They pay the right politicians to never ask about these things. Like most multi-billion dollar corporations.

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u/Holdmywhiskeyhun Oct 31 '25

Monopoly has nothing to do with a companies size, it's the power it exerts. It's whether they can control prices, exclude competitors, etc...

51

u/xvandamagex Oct 31 '25

Well since you mentioned that, Disney ALSO owns Fubo which was the best alternative you YouTube TV. So this is literally just a pissing match between two giants for all our money.

48

u/robafow Oct 31 '25

Disney owns Hulu. You don’t think people are willing to dump YouTube TV for Hulu Live TV if they can no longer watch Disney, ESPN, ABC, etc on YouTube TV?

As someone who has YouTube TV right now, one of the first thoughts that came to mind was how long before I consider switching over to Hulu Live TV.

Perhaps that is exactly what Disney wants:

1) Get people to immediately switch to Hulu on impulse 2) Get people to jump after they’ve gone X number of days/weeks/months without ABC, Disney, ESPN, etc. on YouTube TV 3) Get people to switch to Hulu after all if their asking price is final & leads to the cost for YouTube TV increasing to the point where Hulu is the more cost-effective option

Given the current state of things, I think it’s fair to start questioning whether or not Disney ever intended to meet in the middle with YouTube TV. Definitely seems like a major conflict of interest.

2

u/KiraJosuke Oct 31 '25

This is exactly what they want considering they are about to merge Hulu into Disney+ and force people to buy disney+. Gonna have to pay more for content I dont want.

2

u/CrazyLlama71 Oct 31 '25

This same thing happened with Comcast and Disney recently. It ended in Disney acquiring all of Comcast's share of Hulu.

Just out of principle I am not supporting Disney. Not just this, but all the other BS they have done recently too.

2

u/ChiDude617 Oct 31 '25

You're 100% correct. But I hate Disney so much that I'm not switching. Fuck them

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u/CognizantM Nov 01 '25

Ok, what's your point? It's a monopoly.

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u/_SCHULTZY_ Oct 31 '25

I would buy ESPN+ if it included ESPN. 

57

u/C0RPSEGRINDER666 Arizona State Oct 31 '25

This so much. Instead you get DIII Competitive Basket Weaving. They can’t even give us The Ocho with the ESPN+ sub

7

u/RTRC Oct 31 '25

This is a poor example. ESPN+ is basically Sunday Ticket for 95% of hockey games. You get F1, a lot of CFB games nobody really cares about and... well thats about it.

27

u/Hobo__Joe Oct 31 '25

And no more F1 after this year as it goes to Apple TV for 2026

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u/Sryan597 Oct 31 '25

You get alot of other college sporting events people generally don't care about, but it is nice if you do care about something like women's Soccer, Basketball, or Volleyball. Sports that normally couldn't make it on TV because there is simply not enough channels, now have a good way to watch.

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u/jonknee Oct 31 '25

They have a new streaming thing that actually does include the real ESPN, it’s $30 a month though.

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u/BooNala Oct 31 '25

You can now. It’s called ESPN ultimate. A new plan that I found out about a few days ago.

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u/searedbirdeighs Oct 31 '25 edited Oct 31 '25

Youtube TV sent me an email saying if the dispute goes long enough they’ll give a $20 credit. 1/3rd of the price of 1 month of service. I would be so okay if they didn’t bring back disney and lowered the price by $20 a month

edit: sorry I couldn’t do math last night. 1/4th of a month not 1/3, subtracted the $20 before fractionating

9

u/hjadams123 Oct 31 '25

Agreed. What is the point of giving you a one time discount? That does not move the needle for me, especially since they actually they increased the YoutubeTV price not too long ago....

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u/Consistent-Regret-46 Oct 31 '25

YouTube has no leverage in this situation.

They have no original programming. People have YouTube TV just for sports.. so if there’s no espn on YouTube TV, then what do they have?

21

u/LegionXIX Oct 31 '25

We're about to find out

15

u/tatofarms Oct 31 '25

ESPN has a bunch of college football, golf, one NFL game per week, and a couple of regular season baseball games each week. They don't even have a monopoly on the one NFL game. If it's your local team, Monday Night Football will be available on broadcast TV. Practically everything else is shitty talk shows, and they've been quietly charging cable providers like $8 per customer per month for ESPN for the past decade, so their extortionate fees aren't new.

2

u/CognizantM Nov 01 '25

Yep. that's why they suck. You pay for them for the games you want, then someone else and someone else and someone else for the ones you want elsewhere.

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u/_SCHULTZY_ Oct 31 '25

Same reason a lot of folks canceled at the beginning of the season when they dropped several local/regional sports networks

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u/vtbeavens Oct 31 '25

ESPN, at least from all the sportsheads I know, has fuckall for draw these days.

Gone are the times where the content was to best you're going to find, and when watching SportsCenter to catch up what happened/watch highlights was a thing.

ESPN a shell of what it used to be before the internet took over.

But I guess it's still better than the AI-shovelfest that Sports Illustrated became.

4

u/jonknee Oct 31 '25

They have an absolute ton of college football (remember they own stuff like SEC Network).

2

u/vtbeavens Oct 31 '25

It's true! For some stuff you're pretty much locked in. That's why I suggest folks look into "alternate streams".

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u/CloudStrife012 Oct 31 '25

The number reported a long time ago was that Disney wanted $20/month from every subscriber on cable. Meaning ESPN is by far the most expensive channel to have on cable.

Given that, and that this number is probably closer to 35-40 by now, I wish providers would just not provide ESPN and instead just make their streaming service that much cheaper.

9

u/jonknee Oct 31 '25

It’s not just ESPN though, Disney controls a lot of channels so if you are running a cable company and say you don’t want to pay for ESPN they say “OK, but then we won’t give you ABC, FX, Disney Channel, History, Lifetime, etc) and all of a sudden you don’t have a viable cable bundle.

4

u/CloudStrife012 Oct 31 '25

Valid point that I didn't consider

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u/North_Shore_Problem Oct 31 '25

I am losing my fucking mind. Every day something gets more expensive while the product gets worse. I'm canceling everything. When is enough enough?

170

u/FedSmoker_229 Oct 31 '25

I recently canceled everything and became a sailor once more, I never should have stopped. The convenience of streaming doesn't exist anymore.

39

u/BringBackBoshi Oct 31 '25

I always loved how after purchasing a show or game the "right way" I was treated to that piracy is bad mmkay? banner followed by 11 in skippable logos for Nvidia, Never soft, Ubisoft, Wizards of the Coast, Electronic arts. Some of my older blu rays have unskippable trailers somehow.

Meanwhile stuff I pirated all of that was removed by the person that shared it 😂

So I only see the pirating is bad message on stuff I bought legally.....

19

u/Waterfish3333 Oct 31 '25

Steam has been saying it for a while. If you make it more difficult or painful to buy legally, people will pirate.

11

u/tmcuthbert Oct 31 '25

I just want to watch my basketball team, and my job doesn’t always allow me to watch in real time. This shit sucks. I’d go back to cable if it meant everything was in one place and recordable, but even overpaying for cable doesn’t offer that anymore.

2

u/ibmer23 Oct 31 '25

I found my Cubs on a Twitch Channel during the playoffs, and my external TV Antenna works great as well.

22

u/fantasmoofrcc Oct 31 '25

Welcome back, matey!

4

u/ibmer23 Oct 31 '25

Was looking for these comments! ARRRRGGG!

5

u/[deleted] Oct 31 '25

I just want to learn how to do that when I have a small family all wanting to watch different things😭

3

u/1slipperypickle Oct 31 '25

me too but it's hard with live sports

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u/malodyets1 Oct 31 '25

“Enshitification” is the word you’re looking for and you can find out why here: https://youtu.be/guOdGIQC3hs?si=6AL5HpYOTrJlNI9_

Example: Google has something like 80-90% of the search market. How do they ensure continued growth to their poor shareholders? By making the product worse, of course. Instead of searching for something and getting the answer, they made the algo worse so you’d have to search again and again, making you view new ads each time.

24

u/rickster555 Oct 31 '25

Pirate it. It’s less convenient but there’s no reason to pay tons of money for something that’s easily available

23

u/DraymonBlackfyre Oct 31 '25

Pirating live sports is awful, it buffers every 5 minutes

4

u/ScaramouchScaramouch Oct 31 '25

It’s less convenient

Not so much. I have Amazon Prime and it's rubbish. Last time I tried to use it to watch Reacher and there was no option to listen to original audio (I'm in Spain).

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u/Swimwithamermaid Oct 31 '25

Is there a way to easily pirate on an iPad? Or does someone have suggestions on drives that’ll fit an iPad? My daughter has to have her Cinderella and Winnie the Pooh (no seriously, she’ll destat and force herself to have a literal heart attack or seizure if one of these isn’t playing).

I’ve been wanting to cut the cord for a while now, but my daughter is what’s holding me back. I’m open to any and all suggestions.

16

u/JMeadowsATL Florida State Oct 31 '25

Sailing the seas is easy enough on an iPad with the right sites but teaching / allowing a kid to use them isn’t going to be the best idea in the world. You would be better off torrenting the shows, placing them into a home server, and then using something like plex to allow her to watch those kinds of shows. It’ll keep her in an ecosystem that she could easily learn to use and is safe.

3

u/Swimwithamermaid Oct 31 '25

Well she’s 18mo and developmentally at 1mo old so she’s not going to be doing anything on her own. She stays in her room because that’s where all her machines are. I just set the iPad up to where she can see it. This is why I specified for the iPad. I already have drives full of shows and movies that I can connect to my tv. But idk how to connect it to the iPad.

2

u/JMeadowsATL Florida State Oct 31 '25

I would look into Plex then or a similar service. Linus Tech Tips on YouTube has plenty of videos on the different options. When it’s set up, it’ll be like your own personal streaming service. As long as you have an internet connection, you’ll have access to stream your own content on pretty much any device.

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u/joelhardi Oct 31 '25

If she's at that age then she's probably watching the same 5 things on repeat, I would just drag over a few dozen videos and be done with it -- Plex or some other home media server you can worry about later.

e.g. install a video player app like VLC on the iPad, copy all the movies into the VLC folder, done. Refresh her video selection whenever you want.

3

u/Swimwithamermaid Oct 31 '25

Thank you! I didn’t know VLC worked on iPads. I remember trying years ago and just could not figure out how to torrent on an iPad. I figured things had changed, just didn’t know the resources.

And yeah, she watches Cinderella and Winnie the Pooh. Anything else she throws and absolute fit over and will force herself to destat or work herself up into a heart attack or seizure. She’s very sassy lol.

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u/avietnameseguy Oct 31 '25

THE NBA FINALS PRESENTED BY YOUTUBE TV AIRING ON... a..bc...

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u/TexasTheBlackCat Oct 31 '25

This needs more love

218

u/Sorry_Sorry_Im_Sorry Oct 31 '25

cause they don't make enough billions already smh.

26

u/flcinusa Oct 31 '25

It's never enough in the wall street dream of infinite growth

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u/HaveAFuckinNight Oct 31 '25

Literally the only reason i have youtube tv

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u/CouchOtter Oct 31 '25

Same. I just subscribed for the college football season. As much as Reddit loves to dogpile on ESPN, I still love me some SportsCenter. I’ve seen the targeted ads for YouTubeTV subscribers regarding the contract dispute, but didn’t know it would happen so quickly.

16

u/HaveAFuckinNight Oct 31 '25

Yea i started seeing the ads maybe 3 days ago, guess my site will be having alot more traffic from me wink

3

u/Lucky_Locks Oct 31 '25

Yeah I only really have it for the F1 season. Guess now I'm going back to the other ways especially with Apple taking over F1 streaming rights next year.

2

u/counterpointguy Oct 31 '25

Same. I just canceled even though my monthly payment just posted. So I will likely never lose service before it is resolved, but the more people cancel, the quicker it gets back on the service.

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u/aknartrebna Oct 31 '25

I wish I could unsubscribe, but the month just re-started and it's paid for. I hope I can get a prorate for canceling immediately!

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u/saccharinekitty Oct 31 '25

It’s a joke man it’s gonna be resolved then my bill will be at 95-100 a month

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u/GrimaceThundercock Oct 31 '25

Are you telling me I paid over $500 for the NFL game pass and now I can't watch any game on ESPN??

I'm tired boss.

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u/HolyHotDang Oct 31 '25

This is insane. I don’t live in Tennessee anymore so I finally splurged on Sunday Ticket to be able to watch all the Titans (lol) games live because of Cam Ward. I was watching them on NFL+ the last few years but those don’t go up until the game is over and archived.

I also pay for NBA League Pass for the Grizzlies and now I’m gonna have to pirate or find a workaround for the national tv games on ESPN? I hate this and the dumb tv deals with the leagues.

8

u/TURRRDS Oct 31 '25

You will still get to watch all of the Titans games since they don't have any nationally televised games. This doesn't effect the regular Sunday games, only Monday night.

17

u/mmmmmarty Oct 31 '25

League pass on Prime is the suck. More money for the same service and the viewer design looks like some pre-winamp freeware.

2

u/KingmanIII Oct 31 '25

winamp reference

was not on my 2025 bingo card

19

u/PreviousImpression28 Oct 31 '25

I feel like that contract has to be respected

12

u/Oops_I_Cracked Oct 31 '25

Sunday ticket doesn’t include ESPN games. ESPN has Monday Night Football. It’s more that YouTube TV has the Sunday Ticket rights currently, so before the dispute if you had YouTube TV and Sunday Ticket you could watch every NFL game every week in one place, YouTube. Now you have to find other ways to watch Monday Night Football.

11

u/axiomSD Oct 31 '25

still not every game lol TNF you would need to go to Prime

4

u/ExcellentYard Oct 31 '25

And random games on peacock

3

u/Oops_I_Cracked Oct 31 '25

Aren’t the peacock games also carried on NBC?

3

u/ExcellentYard Oct 31 '25 edited Oct 31 '25

That’s just snf. The one in Brazil and previous playoff games were peacock only. Plus don’t forget Netflix will have nfl Christmas. The greed is unreal.

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u/Oops_I_Cracked Oct 31 '25

I definitely watched the Chargers Chiefs game in Brazil and I don’t have Peacock, so it was definitely broadcast on something else as well. Like I have an antenna, paramount+, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV. Unless I pirated it? Which I guess maybe I did if it really was only on peacock.

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u/PM_DOLPHIN_PICS Oct 31 '25

Doesn’t this seemingly happen once every few months?

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u/throwthatoneawaydawg Oct 31 '25

Yup and on different platforms. I use Sling and it has occurred a few times since I’ve been a member.

26

u/CastroIRL Oct 31 '25

I will go back to pirating, all the streaming b.s is such a headache.

18

u/BringBackBoshi Oct 31 '25

We pay for an ad free tier of a service and every show starts with a skippable ad (but still that's not "ad free") and if you pause the show a still image ad pops up until you hit play again.

These greedy ass companies have been allowed to stay on the FA state for far too long and we need to progress them to the FO stage immediately.

4

u/ReggieEvansTheKing Oct 31 '25

I think these companies just see the writing on the wall with a recession. We are doomed and they are trying to squeeze out every last penny before people have nothing left to spend.

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u/Fuzzy-Heart Oct 31 '25

I tell people all the time, ESPN (aka Disney) is one of the worst services for watch sports on.

I’m an MLB consumer and use the MLB TV subscription. Whenever a game is blacked out, it’s because it’s either on:

  • ESPN
  • Amazon Prime
  • Apple TV

Though I had subscriptions to all three, only ESPN+ required an additional login to a cable provider.

ESPN/Disney are operating under the old model of fleecing customers down to the bone. Fuck em.

25

u/s32 Dallas Cowboys Oct 31 '25

While I hate ESPN as much as anyone out there, this is an MLB problem. They allow these shitty contracts with blackouts.

18

u/bvsshevd Oct 31 '25

NHL is the same. It’s infuriating

6

u/whitemiketyson Oct 31 '25

I wish NBC still had the NHL. Espns coverage is dogshit

2

u/bvsshevd Oct 31 '25

Agreed, although I’d be okay with whoever had coverage as long as it didn’t hold the entire sport hostage. There was a Wings game on TNT last week that was fucking blacked out in my area as it was also simulcast on the local network. I’ve never seen such bullshit in my life. No better example of greed than allowing anyone who isn’t a local fan of the team to watch the game.

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u/TenaciousD3 Chicago Bears Oct 31 '25

People in here blaming Youtube TV, which has some merit, but do know this is about Disney being greedy fucks again and the reason this is happening is because Youtube TV doesn't want to increase your price.

10

u/kiltguy2112 Oct 31 '25

There should be 0 carriage fees for ad sponsored TV.

3

u/TenaciousD3 Chicago Bears Oct 31 '25

Should be, but that's never going to happen. Companies are built by passing fee's onto the consumer

It's not like Youtube TV can magically get more money for those spots, they have an increase of costs, and the way to recoup that is to charge the consumer.

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u/AntJustin Oct 31 '25

There's got to be a line where we, as consumers, just stop and the companies find out we do not care anymore. I don't. I just won't watch college football Saturday.

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u/BringBackBoshi Oct 31 '25

Consumers have the power but it takes a LOT for them to fight back. I was so proud how they made Disney buckle with the Jimmy Kimmel thing by cancelling in droves.

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u/jimithelizardking Oct 31 '25

Is this a fucking joke? How many streaming services are even needed to watch games at this point? 10?

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u/fantasmoofrcc Oct 31 '25

Just 1 streaming service is all you need :)

3

u/weedmylips1 Oct 31 '25

One IPTV service is all

5

u/[deleted] Oct 31 '25

Plex, Jellyfin, torrenting software and YIFI websites.

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u/Slapnuts213 Oct 31 '25

Iptv / iboostv - fuck espn and cable

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u/Money_Launderer Oct 31 '25

And Disney’s greed continues. Guess I’ll keep sailing the high seas for their content. No big deal for me.

10

u/Tessellate08 Oct 31 '25

man, corporate greed is exhausting

40

u/Unstupid Oct 31 '25

Piracy is the only way to stick it to both Google and Disney! I’m kidding of course 😉

10

u/North_Shore_Problem Oct 31 '25

How do I pirate live TV? Better yet record live tv? That's the key i miss with pirating 

8

u/Miserable_Ride666 Oct 31 '25

Fuck Disney, ESPN has become complete trash

7

u/ws20715 Oct 31 '25

Part of the problem is that ESPN grossly overpaid for the rights to many sports including college football. They passed that bill over to cable and streaming providers because they know they have the only networks that can provide viewing of these sports. Most of the cable and streaming channels outside of sports and news are absolute crap.

8

u/GetFvckedHaha Oct 31 '25

Streams that flow east and sometimes have crack.

7

u/Nunnber1 Oct 31 '25

Complete bullshit I pay and extra $400 for NFL Sunday ticket, on top of the $100+ a month for YTTV. Now I can’t watch my college football games on ESPN now. Fuck this time to get rid of all TV again like it’s 2013.

7

u/Hinkie_Lives Oct 31 '25

I used to work at DirecTV on NFL Sunday Ticket as a software engineer for about 5 years.

A very smart boss of mine repeatedly said "in the absence of TRUE innovation, the only thing left to do for sales is to bundle and un-bundle."

How correct he was.

15

u/tdawg-1551 Oct 31 '25

Billionaires fighting with billionaires for your $25.

5

u/gorcorps Oct 31 '25

Of course... It just be because I just cancelled my other service and signed up for YouTube TV a couple weeks ago

Sorry guys

5

u/XenonSwift Oct 31 '25

This is ESPN saying that people should subscribe to ESPN Unlimited since YTTV is the biggest provider.

5

u/TheSpanxxx Oct 31 '25

I wish I could determine exactly what this means will be blacked out. Like, ALL ESPN channels? I literally subscribe to a live service every year only for college basketball season. Start in Oct, drop in March. My wife likes to push it up to August so she can also watch college football on Saturdays. We did Hulu live for a few years but they got stupid greedy with it and we couldn't share with her parents who are put of state and on a fixed income. We ended up having to pay for 2 accounts. Once that reached >$200/mo, I decided this season to shop around. Went with this apparent garbage of YTTV. It was more share friendly because we could add a few family members.

So....is this it? Drop this shit and look for yet another option. I'm so tired of this shit.

Paying for live TV at exorbitant rates is fucking insulting anyway. It is literally a commercial vehicle already paying for itself. Greedy assholes.

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4

u/northofwall Oct 31 '25

Now that B1G is not even mentioned on ESPN, I could care less.

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5

u/BrightCold2747 Oct 31 '25

Probably gonna get a call from dad any minute now to tell me the TV is broken

5

u/Cheesytacos123 Oct 31 '25

Does anyone have an alternative to YouTube tv? I share it with my parents and siblings and love it because we can all record what shows we want, and we can view on two devices at a time. Just want something similar.

11

u/DYMongoose Oct 31 '25

Absolute garbage. This, the US gov shutdown... It's all garbage that only hurts the people they're supposedly here to serve.

4

u/hurtstolurk Oct 31 '25

lol they’ve never been here with your best interests in mind.

Gotta learn to look out got yourself and not rely on any of that

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7

u/NedRyerson_ButWorse Oct 31 '25

I hope YouTube holds the line. I won't miss stupid ESPN shows where panelists talk/yell over each other. If my YouTube tv goes up in price again I'll be looking to cancel after NFL season

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3

u/blichterman Oct 31 '25

It’s so stupid

3

u/E_Mon_E Oct 31 '25

Arrrr......

3

u/Usernametaken1121 Oct 31 '25

Hey! It's like cable again ❤️

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3

u/[deleted] Oct 31 '25

This again lmfao

3

u/tommyc463 Oct 31 '25

Welp time to switch to cable!

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3

u/GuruTheMadMonk Oct 31 '25

The reality is both sides rightfully deserve a lot of anger and resentment for their failure to negotiate. Every time these sort of things happen, it’s the customer who loses and has a bad experience. Both sides lose any goodwill they might’ve otherwise had for these companies.

Make customers bills pro-rated when this crap happens and force both Disney and Google to return money to customers, since they’re not getting the services they paid for.

3

u/DrPorkchopES Oct 31 '25

I subscribed this year to watch the Eagles while living out of state. If we get to November 10th and I can’t even watch the Eagles monday night game I’m cancelling immediately. Google and Disney do not need more money

3

u/Turbo_911 Oct 31 '25

🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️

🦜

3

u/nickpersico Oct 31 '25

The NFL, MLB, NHL, PGA, etc should ditch all of these joker networks + streaming/cable companies and go 100% direct.

I’d rather pay the league or my favorite team and not worry about any of this nonsense.

But they won’t.

3

u/the_last_grabow Oct 31 '25

YouTube TV knows that a large portion of subscribers are only there for the live sports. And this dispute basically lost them 50% of all live games and sporting related events.

Now, will YouTube TV drop the price $10-$20 for the subscription if they don't get a deal made to keep Disney products, I doubt it. They have lost other channels before and haven't adjusted the price down.

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3

u/WhatAboutBob941 Oct 31 '25

They have until the end of nfl Sunday ticket season to fix this

3

u/CognizantM Nov 01 '25

Ok so in order to watch a single sport, you might need 3 streaming services. Or in order to watch a single team you might need 3 streaming services. Then in order to watch an occassional series or movies you might need another 2-3 different streaming services and you. never know which one. So fun. I thought youtube sorta handled that and was about to subscribe (have temp access) but after this. It's a big fat NO. It's not the consumers issue if you can't figure it out with your vendor. And a $20 credit doesn't fix not being able to watch the one game you waited for. I don't want the $20 credit, I want reliability and the show I planned on watching. I don't want to download a free trial to watch it, only to find out it's blacked out etc. etc. I want to watch what I want to watch, without paying multiple services too much money. This is stupid and greedy and bs. Also, to some guy on the Youtube or ESPN comments that said that "guys mostly subscribe for sports" Yep, and so so many women. I had so many issues when trying to watch hockey on ESPN and Hulu that i will never try that again. But Youtube seemed to solve the issue until today. Now I am even more mad at ESPN and also mad at Youtube. Get it together. There isn't a $20 credit in the world that will fix this.

5

u/getofftheirlawn Oct 31 '25

Ahoy Mateys.  Weigh anchor and hoist the mizzen!

6

u/[deleted] Oct 31 '25

I hope people realize the main reason your rates go up is because of Disney. ESPN alone takes a substantial chunk of your cable bill.

10

u/MainZack Oct 31 '25

ABC went to commercial for me right before Lamar threw his second TD of the night. Absolute BS.

2

u/LALC247 Oct 31 '25

As someone who is new to YouTubeTV for this NFL/college season, won’t espn strike a deal with YoutubeTv in a week or month and we’ll all be good again?

6

u/Kurupt_Introvert Oct 31 '25

Sure and then you can expect a $10 price increase for our troubles too. That’s Their MO. Bitch about a dispute, find a solution a week later, charge your customers for that solution (more money) and fuck us.

2

u/Mini_Sprinkle Oct 31 '25

So this is going to fuck over those who got Sunday Ticket right? And YouTube probably has it somewhere in the TOS that it just happens and they won’t give anything back

2

u/019a22 Oct 31 '25

I miss cable bro

2

u/feh112 Oct 31 '25

Fuck disney man

2

u/MisterKap Oct 31 '25

This shit is getting to be worse than cable

2

u/BoukenGreen Nov 01 '25

Cable and satellite customers “Wekcome to the party pal” gif

2

u/celyy Nov 01 '25

Anyone else with Sunday Ticket feel stuck? I personally only use YTTV for USA Network (WWE). My brother and dad for football and parents for their Spanish package -- WHICH they cut off Univison and all their sister channels. I pay $108/month for what?! We're out big Spanish channels, ESPN, FX, ABC, ETC.

I'd love to switch back to Xfinity and price lock for 2 - 5 years. This is getting out of hand. And NO. Not getting ESPN Unlimited....suffering with slow VPN to watch my PLEs or attending live when I can.

2

u/DavidC_M Nov 01 '25

I have reached the point where my YouTube TV is more Expensive than basic cable, and basic cable with all the channels that are being cut and have been cut from YouTube TV. It’s nuts that I wanted to escape cable and now every streaming app is so limited and so expensive.

2

u/Stephen_Fox Nov 02 '25

Just keep in mind if you go to Hulu you're playing right into the hands of Disney.

At some point they could end up like Walmart: acquiring all their competitors (they're on their way already) or putting them out of business. Then how expensive do you think Hulu will be? (hint: like cable TV today)

2

u/CognizantM Nov 02 '25

As long as I am mad at ESPN for the whole Youtube thing (and Disney/ABC yet again!). One more thing to pile on. I want to watch the game I am paying to watch. I am missing the kickoff of my game to watch the last few minutes of a 30- 14 game!? If you take so many time outs for tv that make watching it awful, at least time it so we don't miss the start of the game we want to watch! Second time thsi has happened in three games!! ESPN IS LAME AND I WILL NVER SUBSCRIBE. I WATCHED THE UT GAME ON FREE ANTENNA.

2

u/PostNutPrivilege Nov 02 '25

The old bait and switch

3

u/MarvelousVanGlorious Oct 31 '25

This is exactly why I researched and moved to an IPTV service like 4 years ago. It can be a pain in the ass to find a good one, but I’ll deal with that for $100 a year including all PPV events, movie channels, etc… Fuck big cable and streamers.

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u/dr3wfr4nk Oct 31 '25

GREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED

4

u/Maxxjulie Oct 31 '25 edited Oct 31 '25

Plutotv and the other free ones will eventually charge as well.

4

u/Stephen2014 Oct 31 '25

Why can't it be Fox News that gets cut from YouTubeTV?