Disney is losing about $4.3 million in revenue every day due to a dispute over its content distribution contract with Google's YouTube TV. Morgan Stanley estimates that Disney is losing as much as $30 million a week as the "black screens" on many channels, including ABC and ESPN, continue for the 12th day. Analysts expect the two sides to reach a resolution this week, Variety reported.
This dispute also caused losses to Google. According to a survey of 1,100 U.S. consumers cited by Variety cited by Drive Research, 24% of users have canceled or plan to cancel their YouTube TV subscriptions.
Since the contract expired at 23:59 ET on October 30, more than 20 Disney-owned channels have been removed from YouTube TV. Google accused Disney of using negotiations as a bargaining chip to voluntarily withdraw the channel, and said that Disney's conditions would lead to higher prices for YouTube TV customers; while Disney said that Google refused to pay a reasonable fee for its content. To appease users, Google has issued a $20 compensation credit to YouTube TV users.
It is still uncertain whether the "black screen" dispute between Disney and Google or the US government shutdown crisis will come to an end first.