Disney tried throwing a Hail Mary ahead of today’s Election Day coverage — and YouTube TV swatted it away.
With the nation gearing up for Election Night, the entertainment giant asked YouTube TV to temporarily restore ABC for 24 hours. The request? Let viewers tune in for one of the most-watched news cycles in the country.
The response? A big old corporate nope.
The logo for YouTube TV – YouTube
This YouTube TV Disney Election Day clash marks yet another fallout in the ongoing carriage fight that already pulled ABC and ESPN off YouTube TV on October 30th. And this time, Google isn’t blinking.
YouTube TV’s Response To Disney — Full Transcript
The following was posted on YouTube TV’s official blog page. It’s titled: “Our Response to Disney’s Request to Restore ABC” and is written by The YouTube Team.
Thanks for your proposal.
We agree that the right priority here is to give customers what they want. As you know from the many content disputes you’ve been part of, customers don’t want companies fighting and content blackouts. But unfortunately, your proposal would permit us to return Disney’s ABC stations only for a day and will cause customer confusion among those who may briefly see ABC on YouTube TV only to lose it again shortly after.
There are plenty of other options for customers – election news information is very widely available across other broadcast stations and news networks on YouTube TV, as well as on the main YouTube service, for free. In fact, on the last two U.S. election days, the vast majority of tuned in YouTube TV subscribers chose not to watch ABC.
Publicly resorting to the same tactic that Disney relied on in past disputes fails to acknowledge the distinction between YouTube and other distribution platforms. As you know, Disney can continue to livestream news information on the ABC News YouTube page, which has 19.1M subscribers, and its ABC local stations can also do so on their YouTube pages.
To truly achieve what is best for our mutual customers, we propose immediately restoring the Disney channels that our customers watch: ABC and the ESPN networks, while we continue to negotiate. Those are the channels that people want.
If you agree with our proposal and give us approval, we can get our operational teams together and get these channels live in hours. Let us know how you’d like to proceed.
More importantly, let’s get a fair deal done so we can get back to providing our mutual customers with the content they want. Thank you.
That’s not a gentle “no.” That’s a Silicon Valley throat-clear followed by, “We’re not doing this, and here’s why.” With a little shot at the fact that people don’t watch ABC News thrown in for good measure.
Disney’s Leverage Play… Backfired?
Disney likely assumed Election Night urgency would force Google’s hand. After all, the Mouse has long held the high ground in carriage negotiations, historically able to strong-arm cable and streaming partners into bending. For Disney, getting ABC back on the air for Election Day was imperative for TV ratings and ad buys, so the company was clearly trying everything in its playbook to get its way.
But this is 2025 — and Big Tech is not traditional cable.
Terry Moran of ABC News – YouTube, ABC News
YouTube’s message boiled down to:
- You created this blackout.
- Your “one-day comeback” confuses users.
- People aren’t even watching ABC here anyway.
- ABC can stream on YouTube for free, so viewers aren’t stuck.
That last point is brutal. If viewers can watch ABC news free on YouTube… why pay Disney for access at all?
Why This Matters
This showdown raises real industry-wide questions, like is Disney losing its once-ironclad distribution power? Does YouTube TV now hold the leverage? How long before viewers blame the company making content vanish — not the platform?
The ABC News interview between Terry Moran and President Trump – YouTube, ABC News
Disney’s “we deserve a fair deal” talking point is familiar. But YouTube counters by saying Disney is returning to the same aggressive playbook it used against cable for decades. What’s more, now that Disney is in the live TV game through Hulu+ Live TV, YouTube insists that the Mouse House is trying to drive up YouTube prices to push people toward their own service.
Streaming may officially have a new power center — and it isn’t Burbank.
The Reality for Viewers
Election Night coverage isn’t disappearing. Viewers on YouTube TV still get:
- NBC
- CBS
- FOX
- CNN
- Fox News
- MSNBC
- Multiple streaming news feeds
- ABC News streaming free on YouTube
The narrative Disney wanted — “Google is depriving voters of information” — didn’t land.
Donald Trump speaks at his inauguration in 2017 – YouTube, ABC News
Instead, YouTube TV framed Disney as clinging to the old model and using outdated pressure tactics. And they backed it up with data: most YouTube TV users weren’t watching ABC anyway.
Final Take
This YouTube TV Disney Election Day fight is a big cultural moment in the shift away from legacy media control.
Disney picked a high-stakes moment. YouTube didn’t budge.
David Muir and Linsey Davis via ABC News YouTube
The corporate battlefield once dominated by Disney now has a new titan — and for the first time in a while, the Mouse doesn’t look like the one holding the bigger stick.
Pass the popcorn. This one isn’t closing quietly.
How do you feel about YouTube TV rejecting Disney with its Election Day proposal? Sound off in the comments and let us know!
UP NEXT: Rachel Zegler Defends Snow White By Pointing Out it Hit #1 on Streaming…On Disney+
Let them eat each other alive.
I honestly cannot wait for the release of the catalogue raisonné of bob iger. Generally that is a comprehensive list of an artist’s entire body of celebrated works. For iger, it’ll be his multitude and diverse portfolio of abject failures. I hope the term “Munsoned” from the movie “Kingpin” is changed to “igered” over time.
Disney is increasingly irrelevant, now it went DEI. How about that.