College football fans relying on YouTube TV found themselves frustrated on Saturday as Disney’s family of networks, including ESPN, remained unavailable due to an unresolved carriage dispute between the media giant and Google. The blackout hit just as a full slate of high-profile matchups kicked off across the SEC, ACC and Big 12.
While viewers with access to over-the-air antennas could still tune into ABC broadcasts, games airing on ESPN, ESPN2 and conference channels were out of reach. The outage arrived at a critical time, pushing many subscribers toward competing streaming services in order to follow their favorite teams.
The dispute stems from stalled negotiations after Thursday’s deadline passed without a new agreement in place. Saturday marked the second consecutive day Disney channels — as well as DVR recordings of those shows — were removed from YouTube TV’s lineup. The streaming platform currently ranks among the largest virtual multichannel providers in the U.S., boasting an estimated 10 million subscribers.
Blackouts tied to carriage disagreements have become increasingly common during marquee sports seasons, leaving fans caught in the crossfire. One recent example occurred at the start of the 2024 college football season, when Disney channels disappeared from DirecTV for nearly two weeks before a resolution was reached.
The NFL could be the next casualty if a deal isn’t finalized by kickoff of Sunday’s matchup between the Arizona Cardinals and the Dallas Cowboys. While the game will simulcast locally on ABC, not every YouTube TV subscriber has antenna access — particularly apartment dwellers in urban markets.
In response to the outage, ESPN streamed its popular “College GameDay” pregame show for free online Saturday morning. Meanwhile, multiple college conferences took the unusual step of urging fans to contact YouTube TV directly or consider switching providers.
As cord-cutting accelerates and competition for sports broadcasting rights intensifies, experts warn that clashes like this may become the new normal. For now, millions of paying customers are simply hoping their service returns before another weekend’s worth of games slips away.