Disney is losing $30 million a week because of Youtube TV

Question

The claim that Disney is losing $30 million a week from Youtube TV not showing their videos is not the entirety of the story. Disney pulled all of its channels from the Youtube TV platform including all ESPN and ABC channels, two of the nations biggest networks. This is because Disney believes Youtube TV is not paying them a fair market price for their channels, though they are losing even more money by pulling all their channels. Youtube TV feels they can't pay Disney's asking prices for their channels as they would have to increase their subscription price to over $20 a month, more than the average person would be willing to pay.

Disney's greediness with their asking prices is only hurting their company more as they now have lost all revenue from Youtube TV, equating to the $30 million a month figure. Youtube TV is also taking a big hit from this dispute as their users don't feel the subscription price is worth it without access to Disney's channels. Because of this, they have issued a $20 credit to all Youtube TV users to make up for the temporary channel shutdown on the platform.

Answer 1

Disney did, in fact, lose about $30 million per week, but this evidence was coming from a Morgan Stanley analyst, and not Disney itself. Multiple outlets reported that Disney was losing about $4.3 million a day, which closely aligns with the $30 million a week presented in this claim. The dispute was over a carriage negotiation regarding ESPN and ABC, and how those networks have been kept off of YouTube TV since October 30th. From the Disney press release (Nov. 14, 2025), we can see that Disney announced a multi-year distribution agreement with YouTube TV after the blackout ended. Disney's leadership frames the resolution as evidence of the "tremendous value" of its programming and commitment to evolving with audience viewing habits. This serves as a primary source, showing how Disney publicly announced the dispute and resolution.

At the same time, the press release supports evidence that undermines the claim that Disney is being "greedy". Disney positions the agreement as a long-term deal that benefits both companies and adapts to audience viewing habits, rather than just an attempt to earn more money. When we look at the press release, Business Insider, and Fox Business, we can see that all outlets confirm both companies suffered losses and publicly blamed each other. In the end, this complicates the narrative that one side is the only one at fault.

https://www.businessinsider.com/disney-loss-estimate-youtube-tv-dispute-espn-morgan-stanley-2025-11

https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/disney-losing-30m-week-youtube-tv-blackout-drags-on-analysts-say

https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/press-releases/the-walt-disney-company-announces-multi-year-distribution-agreement-with-youtube-tv/

Comments

Your comment does a really strong job of adding nuance to the original claim, especially by separating what is technically accurate from what may be misleading in context. One thing I’d build on, though, is how much weight we should give to the source of that $30 million figure.

Since the estimate comes from a Morgan Stanley analyst rather than The Walt Disney Company itself, it’s important to recognize that it’s still an external projection, not a confirmed internal loss figure. Even though multiple outlets like Business Insider and Fox Business reported similar numbers, they’re all ultimately tracing back to that same analyst estimate. So the claim is supported, but not independently verified by Disney.

Answer 2

In investigating the claim Disney is losing $30 million a week because of YouTube TV, I found the information to be mostly accurate and factual. The claim was originally published on Fox Business, which is known to be a reliable source. In summary, the claim discusses the conflict between Disney and YouTube TV. The conflict is due to Disney believing they are not receiving their fair share of profit, as a result, they removed their services from YouTube TV.

For primary sources, FOX Business and News are the only legitimate sources that state this claim.

As for potential bias, FOX is known to "lean right", in other words, their reporting on economic issues reflects a conservative perspective. This could be shown through how the article is more on Disney's side rather than YouTube's. Disney has previously lost a large amount of money due to the controversy involving Jimmy Kimmel. It's plausible that they are demanding more profit from YouTube to compensate for the money loss. However, this factor was not mentioned at all throughout the article, making Disney seem like the victim.

Attempts were made to contact Eric Revell, the author of this article, but I did not receive a response.