Disney to pay $50M to YouTube TV, DirecTV subscribers
▼ Summary
– Disney agreed to a $50 million settlement for claims it forced YouTube TV and DirecTV Stream to raise subscription prices.
– Subscribers from April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2026, are eligible; claims must be filed by September 8, 2026.
– A class action lawsuit in 2022 alleged Disney used its ownership of ESPN and Hulu to inflate prices and force channel bundling.
– Disney denies wrongdoing; the settlement was preliminarily approved in March 2024, with a final hearing set for January 14, 2027.
– The settlement follows past carriage disputes, including a 15-day YouTube TV blackout that cost Disney an estimated $110 million in lost revenue.
YouTube TV and DirecTV Stream subscribers could be in line for a cash payout as part of a $50 million settlement involving Disney. The entertainment giant has agreed to resolve claims that it forced those streaming services to raise their subscription prices. Any customer who subscribed to YouTube TV or DirecTV Stream between April 1st, 2019, and March 31st, 2026 may be eligible to file a claim under the proposed agreement.
All claims must be submitted through the official online settlement portal by September 8th, 2026. A court-authorized notice provides further details on eligibility criteria. While the exact payout per person has not been disclosed, payments are expected to go out after the final approval hearing, scheduled for January 14th, 2027, according to AL.com.
This settlement stems from a class action lawsuit filed in 2022 by four YouTube TV subscribers. The plaintiffs alleged that Disney’s carriage agreements with streaming live pay television (SLPTV) competitors gave it unfair “pricing power over the entire market.” The lawsuit argued that Disney’s ownership of ESPN and Hulu,with Hulu being the second-largest SLPTV provider after YouTube,allowed it to inflate costs across the streaming landscape by raising the price of its own products. The complaint also claimed that rival distributors were required to include ESPN in their standard channel packages, preventing them from offering cheaper, more flexible bundles.
The settlement was reached in March, and the U. S. District Court in Northern California granted preliminary approval later that month. Disney has denied any wrongdoing as part of the agreement.
This payout comes after a series of carriage disputes between Disney, YouTube, and DirecTV, which have led to temporary blackouts of Disney-owned channels. A notable example was the 15-day blackout of Disney channels on YouTube TV last year, which reportedly cost Disney an estimated $110 million in lost revenue,more than double the amount it will now pay to settle subscriber claims.
(Source: The Verge)
