- The Disney YouTube drama is heating up, and it’s starting to make an impact on local ABC stations
- Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley has shared that the company has experienced a $1 million loss since the drama began
- He also said the FCC has launched an investigation into “harmful practices”
Disney’s dispute with Google over YouTube TV carriage rights has been going on for nearly a week, and now the drama is starting to affect local stations, prompting broadcasters to air their thoughts, especially Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley.
During the company’s Q3 earnings call, Ripley drew attention to the ongoing spat, saying that Sinclair’s ABC stations are currently affected by the dispute. He went on to reveal that the company saw a $1 million net loss, which Ripley has linked to Google’s conflict with Disney, calling it an “anti-trust issue” that will “hurt local viewers and local journalism.”
ABC stations, as well as other Disney-owned networks such as ESPN, Disney Channel and Nat Geo Wild, were dropped from YouTube TV last week after the two media companies could not agree on requesting fees. As a result, popular viewing, including US state and local elections and sports coverage, has been blacked out for YouTube TV’s 10 million subscribers, but the platform is giving $60 in credit to its customers in compensation.
“As local broadcasters, we have no control over whether our content — and the content we pay to broadcast — will be distributed to local viewers,” Ripley said, referring to over-the-top (OTT) streaming services such as YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV. “This was clearly not the intention of the Telecommunications Act (of 1996),” he said, adding that broadcasters “should not be able to dictate to us whether we can or cannot distribute content to YouTube TV”.
Following these remarks, Ripley took the time to address the injustice this does to loyal YouTube TV customers, who now face potentially having to subscribe to additional platforms just to access ABC content. “Of particular concern is that consumers are now being forced to buy multiple streaming services from one of the parties to the dispute in order to get the content they have literally already paid for,” Ripley said.
So how does Sinclair move on from this? While it may be a while before Disney and Google find a place where they can agree, Ripley already has a plan of action.
In addition to his comments above, Ripley revealed that he has discussed the situation with the FCC, which has since opened an investigation into this practice that could be harmful to local stations. He concluded by saying “we call on Congress, the FCC and antitrust regulators to further review this and stop the harm to local broadcasters and local viewers”.
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