Upcoming UK football, basketball games may be blacked out for YouTube TV subscribers

Kentucky sports fans who subscribe to YouTube TV might have to find other options for the Wildcats’ upcoming football and basketball games if the company isn’t able to resolve its dispute with Disney.

The Los Angeles Times reported that more than 10 million YouTube TV customers lost access to ESPN, ABC and other Walt Disney Co. channels — including the SEC Network — after contract talks broke down late Thursday and into Friday morning in one of the largest television blackouts in recent years.

The two TV giants have been wrangling for weeks over carriage fees for Disney’s channels. YouTube TV — now one of the largest pay-TV services in the U.S. — has balked at Disney’s price demands, fueling the dispute that spilled beyond Thursday’s deadline for a new deal.

Without an agreement, Google-owned YouTube TV no longer had legal rights to distribute Disney’s channels.

That would include Saturday’s Kentucky-Auburn football game (scheduled to air at 7:30 p.m. on the SEC Network) and the men’s basketball team’s season opener (7 p.m. Tuesday on SEC+).

Other upcoming UK sports events that could be affected include UK-Vanderbilt volleyball (7 p.m. Friday on SEC+), UK-Texas volleyball (1 p.m. Sunday on ESPN), UK-Florida women’s soccer in the SEC Tournament (3 p.m. on SEC) and UK-Morehead State women’s basketball (6:30 p.m. Monday on SEC+).

Fans could miss Saturday’s college football coverage on ESPN and ABC as well as the “Monday Night Football” game between the Arizona Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys.

“We know this is a frustrating and disappointing outcome for our subscribers,” a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement. “We continue to urge Disney to work with us constructively to reach a fair agreement that restores their networks to YouTube TV.”

Should the outage stretch for “an extended period,” YouTube said it would offer subscribers a $20 credit.

Other streaming options for ESPN and the SEC Network

The blackout highlights heightened tensions in the television industry.

The Los Angeles Times reported that programming companies, including Disney, have sought higher fees for their channels to help offset the increased cost of sports programming, including NFL and NBA contracts. But pay-TV providers such as YouTube have pushed back, attempting to draw a line as customers grow weary of ever-increasing monthly bills.

They don’t want to lose subscribers to a rival service or have them drop their subscriptions. More than 40 million pay-TV customer homes have cut the cord over the last decade, according to industry data.

“Unfortunately, Google’s YouTube TV has chosen to deny their subscribers the content they value most by refusing to pay fair rates for our channels, including ESPN and ABC,” Disney said in a statement. “Without a new agreement in place, their subscribers will not have access to our programming, which includes the best lineup in live sports — anchored by the NFL, NBA, and college football, with 13 of the top 25 college teams playing this weekend. With a $3 trillion market cap, Google is using its market dominance to eliminate competition and undercut the industry-standard terms we’ve successfully negotiated with every other distributor.”Y

YouTube TV, for its part, has alleged that Disney was the one making unreasonable demands.

Disney’s Hulu service and Fubo compete with YouTube TV by offering packages of many of the same traditional channels. The Los Angeles Times reported that YouTube has alleged that Disney is using the blackout to steer disaffected YouTube TV customers to Disney-owned streaming services.

Besides Hulu+ and Fubo, some other streaming options to consider as an alternative to YouTube TV are DirecTV, Sling TV and ESPN Unlimited and ESPN+.

This story was originally published October 31, 2025 at 10:31 AM.