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YouTube TV Abruptly Shut Down All Disney-Owned Stations At Midnight Last Night And People Are Pissed

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Time was you probably had little idea what company owned what. You were perhaps vaguely aware that whatever TV show or movie you watched was in the coffers of some corporate behemoth, but it didn’t affect you in any noticeable ways. Not any more. Ever since people have been told to “cut the cable” and move to streamers — an ever-growing number of streamers, as it happened — we’re now reminded every day who owns what. And on Friday night, YouTube TV watchers — including many in the middle of watching sporting events — received a brutal reminder that Disney owns, well, everything.

As per Deadline, at midnight on Friday any and all Disney channels suddenly vanished from YouTube TV. That includes any ABC-owned stations, ESPN networks, Freeform, FX channels, and National Geographic channels.

So what happened? Disney and YouTube were involved in a carriage dispute over the former’s channels being included in the latter’s massive TV bundle. Earlier in the week, Disney said they were “optimistic” about resolving the issue. But negotiations broke down and at 11:59pm EST, their existing agreement expired. Thus, a large amount of TV — including, again, sporting events that were mid-stride — went dark on the platform.

“We know this is frustrating news for our customers, and not what we wanted,” YouTube TV said in a statement. “We will continue conversations with Disney to advocate on your behalf in hopes of restoring their content on YouTube TV.”

To make amends, YouTube TV dropped their price $15, from $64.99 to $49.99.

But that didn’t exactly make customers happy. And many of them took to social media to vent.

Others made jokes.

And others speculated that Disney may have an ulterior motive.

(Via Deadline)