Negotiations between The Walt Disney Co. and Google’s YouTube TV could stretch well into November, as a retransmission consent impasse took all of Disney’s broadcast network O&Os and ABC affiliated properties off the virtual MVPD — as well as every Disney-owned cable channel.
That sent non-Disney owned ABC affiliates into motion to explain to impacted viewers how it is Disney, not the station owner, that is responsible for the “blackout.” And, it sends both Congress and FCC another message that having networks negotiate carriage fee rights for a virtual MVPD such as YouTubeTV may not be a great thing for consumers or local TV station ownership groups.
For News-Press & Gazette Co.’s KESQ-3 in Santa Barbara, Calif., the ABC affiliate for the Central Coast made it clear that it was not involved in the impasse. “To be clear, we have not ‘blacked out’ our station. Neither KESQ nor News-Press & Gazette Company, the station’s parent company, is involved in the discussions between Google and The Walt Disney Company and do not control KESQ’s continued carriage on the service. We hope the parties can successfully conclude their negotiations as soon as possible, in order to restore our programming to our respective viewers and customers.”
In Dallas, TEGNA-owned WFAA-8 explained that the ABC affiliate serving North Texas, along with such cable TV networks as ESPN, were unavailable on YouTubeTV because of the failure between Disney and Google to reach a new licensing deal.
WFAA reported that YouTube’s view is that Disney is proposing terms that would be too costly, resulting in higher prices and fewer choices for its subscribers. YouTube also asserts that the move also benefits Disney’s own streaming products, such as Hulu + Live TV and Fubo.
In contrast, Disney argues that YouTube TV has refused to pay fair rates of its channels — and is therefore choosing “to deny their subscribers the content they value most.” Disney also accused Google of “using its market dominance to eliminate competition and undercut the industry-standard terms we’ve successfully negotiated with every other distributor.”
At KeepMyNetworks.com, a call for consumers to get their favorite networks back was established.
