Disney warns that its standoff with YouTube TV may continue, unsettling investors as the company confronts weakening traditional TV revenue despite strong streaming and parks performance.
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| Disney’s blackout on YouTube TV highlights deeper industry shifts, mounting investor concerns, and the company’s urgent push toward streaming, parks growth, and AI innovation. Image: CH |
Los Angeles, USA — November 14, 2025:
The Walt Disney Company is warning that its high-profile standoff with YouTube TV may continue for some time, raising further alarm among investors already concerned about the erosion of the company’s traditional television business. The blackout of Disney’s networks on YouTube TV, which began on October 30, has quickly become one of the most consequential carriage disputes of the year, revealing how sharply the balance of power has shifted between legacy media companies and digital distributors.
On Disney’s post-earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston said the company had already accounted for the possibility of a prolonged dispute by “building a hedge” into its forecasts. YouTube TV’s growing influence as the fourth-largest U.S. pay-TV provider, with roughly 10 million subscribers, gives it significant leverage. The blackout is not only inconvenient for viewers but also financially painful for Disney. Morgan Stanley analysts estimate that a two-week outage could cost the company around $60 million in lost revenue, compounding the existing pressures on its declining TV segment.
This dispute also highlights a broader trend: as viewers abandon cable for streaming platforms, digital distributors like YouTube TV are gaining negotiating power once held by traditional cable carriers. Earlier this year, NBCUniversal faced a similar standoff with YouTube TV, illustrating how common and disruptive these conflicts have become. eMarketer analyst Ross Benes noted that although Disney is reducing its reliance on cable companies, removing major distributors entirely will take time. He emphasized that YouTube TV’s absence is especially damaging for sports fans who depend on Disney-owned ESPN.
The financial backdrop to the dispute has added to investor anxiety. Disney reported quarterly revenue of $22.5 billion, slightly below expectations and essentially unchanged from the previous year. The most troubling decline came from its traditional television division, where profit fell 21 percent to $391 million. Even ESPN, long considered one of Disney’s most reliable assets, saw weaker earnings. These declines overshadowed stronger performance in the company’s other divisions. Streaming earnings rose 39 percent to $352 million, buoyed by subscriber growth across Disney+ and Hulu, which together added 12.5 million new customers, pushing the combined total to 196 million. Parks and experiences also delivered strong results, with profit rising 13 percent to $1.88 billion, thanks to growth in Disney’s U.S. cruise business and improved performance at Disneyland Paris.
Despite these successes, the company’s entertainment division struggled. Operating income fell by more than one-third to $691 million, in part because this year’s film slate failed to replicate the major box-office successes of the previous year, such as “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool & Wolverine.” To reassure investors, Disney announced a 50 percent increase in its dividend to $1.50 per share and a doubling of its share buyback program to $7 billion for fiscal 2026. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.11, down 3 percent from last year but slightly ahead of analyst estimates.
CEO Bob Iger stressed that Disney’s proposed deal for YouTube TV was “equal to or better than what other large distributors have already agreed to,” and insisted that any agreement must reflect the true value of Disney’s content. Iger, whose current contract expires at the end of 2026, is expected to oversee the naming of his successor early next year as the company continues navigating a rapidly transforming media market.
Looking ahead, Disney is also exploring new technological frontiers. Iger confirmed that the company is in discussions with artificial intelligence companies, examining ways to use AI to innovate without compromising Disney’s iconic characters and storytelling legacy. One area of interest is enabling Disney+ subscribers to generate short-form content using AI tools, part of a broader effort to make the platform more engaging and customizable.
Disney’s dispute with YouTube TV underscores a critical challenge facing the company: how to maintain the value of its traditional TV assets during a period of unprecedented disruption. The longer the blackout continues, the more pressure Disney faces to accelerate its transition toward streaming and digital-first strategies while preserving the revenue streams that still support key parts of the business. As the media landscape continues to evolve, Disney’s ability to adapt—and to negotiate fair terms with powerful tech-driven distributors—will determine whether it can maintain its leadership in an increasingly competitive entertainment market.