YouTube vs. Disney: What's behind the fight

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YouTube TV customers are bracing for another frustrating weekend.For the last week, YouTube TV’s 10 million subscribers have been denied access to ESPN, ABC and other Walt Disney Co.channels in a dispute that has swelled into one of the largest TV blackouts in a decade.

Instead of turning on “College GameDay,” “Monday Night Football” or “Dancing With the Stars,” customers have been greeted with a grim message: “Disney channels are unavailable.” The standoff began Oct.30 when the two behemoths hit an impasse in their negotiations over a new distribution contract covering Disney’s channels and ABC stations.

Google, which owns YouTube, has rebuffed Disney’s demands for fee increases for ESPN, ABC and other channels.The Burbank entertainment giant has been seeking a revenue boost to support its content production and streaming ambitions, and help pay for ESPN’s gargantuan sports rights deals.

Talks are ongoing, but the two sides remain apart on major issues — prolonging the stalemate.“Everyone is kind of sick of these big-time companies trying to get the best of one another,” said Nick Newton, 30, who lives near San Francisco and subscribes to YouTube TV.“The people who are suffering are the middle-class and lower-class people that just love sports ...

because it’s our escape from the real world.”Both companies declined to comment for this article.The skirmish is just the latest between YouTube and programming companies.

Since August, Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corp., Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Spanish-language broadcaster TelevisaUnivision have all complained that YouTube TV was trying to use its market muscle to squeeze them for concessions.Here’s a look at what’s driving the escalating tensions:Google’s growing clout in televisionThe struggle between Disney and YouTube reflects television’s fast-shifting dynamics.Disney has long enter...