Just as UTSA was finishing off Tulane the screen went black, meaning on the verge of another big college football weekend ESPN is no longer on YouTube TV. Who knows maybe by Saturday terms will be reached on both sides and a crisis will be adverted but for now millions of college football fans will be in the dark this weekend.
There is a huge slate of games across the different Disney networks that YouTube TV customers will miss if they don't change carriers or go elsewhere to see games. Both businesses will blame each other, but in actuality, the only people who will be affected are the everyday college football fan.
As crazy as the world is right now, college football is an outlet from everyday struggles, and that, as of right now, has been taken away from them. Not only is it unfair, but there is also a significant schedule across the Disney networks that will be missed.
There are huge playoff implications in several games across the board, starting with Vanderbilt heading to Austin and ending the day with Cincinnati heading to Utah. Other games worth mentioning are Miami heading to Dallas, OU heading to Tennessee, and Navy heading to Denton to take on North Texas in a huge game for the American conference. To think that fans who pay for YouTube TV may miss all these games is just sickening.
Hopefully, by Saturday, both Disney and YouTube will get enough feedback from fans that they will come to terms, because honestly, sports are why most people have any source of cable, even in streaming form. I am sure that as people cancel their subscriptions and money is lost, there will be a change in tune by both parties, but it should not always come to that for the right thing to be done.
Negotiations between a carrier and a channel should never be made during the biggest part of the American sports season. Outside of the NFL, college football is king, and for so many customers to be in limbo less than 48 hours until Saturday is ridiculous.