YouTube TV, ESPN "remain far apart"

As another college football Saturday creeps closer, it’s looking more and more likely that a pair of corporate behemoths will continue to keep fans from watching through a service to which millions subscribe.

Andrew Marchand of TheAthletic.com reports that Google and Disney “remain far apart” in their ongoing negotiations on a deal that would restore ESPN and ABC to YouTube TV.

That means no college games on Saturday and, apparently, no Monday Night Football. This week, it’s a much more relevant and consequential game than Cardinals-Cowboys. In three days, NFL fans with YouTube TV will have to go elsewhere to watch Eagles-Packers.

Marchand has details about the sticking points. I don’t care what they are. I care about a deal getting done. If/when both sides are sufficiently motivated, that will happen.

Fox did a deal with Google in August. Comcast did a deal with Google in September. Disney is the cheese that currently stands alone. And it’s leaving consumers SOL when it comes to watching ABC and ESPN.

Yes, there are workarounds. But those possibilities require work. And expense. And inconvenience. And the two companies that are engaged in a standoff that seems to be rooted in equal parts money, power, and ego don’t care that their customers are caught in the middle.

ESPN, through its clumsy efforts to win the P.R. battle, has been losing it. Community notes have been attached to multiple ESPN P.R. tweets. ESPN personalities who have done the bidding of their bosses have taken a hit to their all-important personal brands. And Pat McAfee, whose personal brand is rooted to some degree in controversy and contrarianism (I can relate), has been calling out colleagues for carrying the water of the corporate overlords. (McAfee later clarified that his criticism is directed at management. Still, it’s unlikely that the individual contracts of those who complied with the directive include an obligation to grab the rope in the ongoing tug-of-war with Google.)

ESPN thought it would work. The individuals who jumped into the fray thought it would work. It has backfired — albeit not as badly as a recent solitaire marketing scheme that seemed on the surface to have come straight from The Onion.

We all know that, if we dare to peel the onion on the lingering absence of Disney networks from YouTube TV, we’ll find money at the heart of the bulb. And the shared message of both companies continues to be that we all should go suck an egg.

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