Seemingly every month, we hear about a network and YouTube TV in heated negotiations with both sides threatening that Code Red could happen, which would result in the channels being taken off the platform. Most of the time, the dispute ends with the two sides agreeing to a deal right before the deadline, meaning everyone got all worked up for no reason.
The latest dispute has been between YouTube and Disney which includes ESPN and ABC who are owned by Disney. Throughout the week, YouTube TV subscribers were shown ads from ESPN about how they could miss their favorite sporting event.
On Thursday Night, as the final minutes were ticking off the clock in the game between Tulane and UTSA, the looming breakup happened. Viewers started getting feedback errors, and soon it was announced on social media that the Disney brands were off of YouTube TV.
BREAKING: Disney/ESPN is no longer on YouTubeTV due to a carriage disputeđź’”https://t.co/uE0PEdecOx pic.twitter.com/oqWSy9fM2h
— On3 (@On3sports) October 31, 2025
College Football fans rip YouTube TV over broadcast outage
As the news broke that YouTubeTV couldn't reach an agreement, every College Football fan started to panic as a great weekend of games looms. As fans could end up missing their favorite team this weekend, fans started to bash the streaming service with countless threats to cancel their subscriptions..
I swear if YouTube tv doesn’t get abc and espn back immediately I will cancel and never use them again. @YouTubeTV
— Lacey Lepick (@LaceyLepick) October 31, 2025
One person pointed out how this issue happens every month, seemingly only on YouTube TV.
The best part about YouTube TV is every month, you get something telling you that you may lose about 5 channels. It’s like a fun game they play. #YoutubeTV
— Pat Norek (@patJ14) October 30, 2025
Other fans are demanding that YouTube TV get the channels back as soon as possible
I swear if YouTube tv doesn’t get ABC and ESPN back immediately I will cancel and never use them again. @YouTubeTV
— Kurt Stroemel (@KurtStroemel) October 31, 2025
Plenty of fans pointed out the fact that, despite the fact that the move was supposed to happen at midnight, the sides pulled the plug much earlier.
Well, it looks like I'm getting a playback error for ESPN on YouTube TV.
— Romelle Slaughter II (@RHS76) October 31, 2025
Guess they're not waiting to pull the plug now during this standoff between YTTV and Disney.
How to Watch College Football if the dispute carries into Saturday
If the dispute isn't solved early on Friday, there's a serious chance that several fanbases will miss their team's play if they subscribe to YouTube TV. The good news is that there are countless other streaming services, from FuboTV to Hulu and several others, where you could make the switch. The outage applies to ESPN and ABC, which means everyone could miss College GameDay, along with several other games.