The carriage battle between Disney and Google has stretched into its first full week, and its effects are no longer limited to national channels. Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley says the fallout is hurting local ABC stations, and the company is already counting financial losses linked to the blackout on YouTube TV.
During Sinclair’s Q3 earnings call, Ripley said the dispute has cost the company roughly one million dollars so far. He framed the issue as an antitrust concern rather than a routine business disagreement, arguing that the current dynamic undermines local viewers who rely on ABC programming for news, elections and sports.
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Channels go dark for 10 million subscribers
YouTube TV dropped all Disney-owned networks, including ABC, ESPN, Disney Channel and National Geographic Wild, after the two companies failed to agree on renewal fees. The blackout affects around 10 million subscribers. Google has responded by issuing a 60 dollar credit as compensation, but that doesn’t restore access to the missing channels.
Ripley stressed that local broadcasters have no control over whether their content appears on live streaming platforms such as YouTube TV or Hulu + Live TV, despite being responsible for licensing fees to air that content. In his view, the current setup contradicts the intent of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which was designed to prevent bottlenecks in distribution.
His concern is straightforward. Viewers are paying for a service that no longer delivers the channels they signed up for. Some might now feel pressured to subscribe to another platform controlled by Disney just to regain access to ABC programming.
Pressure mounts on regulators
Ripley says he has already spoken with the Federal Communications Commission, and the agency has begun investigating the practices surrounding this dispute. He warned that the longer the blackout continues, the more damage there will be to local journalism and local advertising markets.
He closed his remarks with a call for broader intervention, urging Congress, the FCC and antitrust regulators to reassess how much power large distributors hold over local stations.
What happens next
Disney and Google have not given a timeline for resolving the dispute. Until an agreement is reached, local ABC stations will continue to lose distribution, advertisers will face uncertainty, and YouTube TV subscribers will remain without access to major programming.
If the FCC expands its investigation, the outcome could influence how future streaming carriage negotiations are handled. For now, millions of viewers are caught in the middle of a conflict that shows no sign of ending quickly.
