The Walt Disney Company and YouTube TV have yet to reach a new carriage deal; Discovery Global plans an Upfront event for next May; and Burke Magnus calls Pat McAfee a “creative force.” Plus news on the NFL Berlin Game broadcast crew, Michelle Beadle, Lionsgate Television and Cumulus Media.
Disney, YouTube TV nearing carriage expiration without new deal
YouTube TV users could lose access to networks owned by The Walt Disney Company, including ESPN and ABC, as the two sides have yet to reach a new distribution agreement. The current deal expires Thursday at 11:59 PM ET, and as the date is approaching, Disney has started to run messaging to communicate the situation to subscribers. In a statement, a Disney spokesperson accused YouTube TV parent company Google of “exploiting its position at the expense of their own customers” and suggesting that it is not offering to pay a fair rate for Disney programming.
YouTube TV countered by stating that it has been “working in good faith to negotiate a deal with Disney that pays them fairly for their content” on the platform and accusing Disney of proposing terms that would raise YouTube TV prices. Should the two sides be unable to reach terms on a new pact, YouTube TV is going to remove Disney content from its platforms and offer its subscribers a $20 credit in the event of an extended outage.
Two years ago, Disney and Charter Communications reached a new distribution agreement just hours before the season premiere of “Monday Night Football” that granted some Spectrum subscribers access to Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ for no additional charge. Disney is willing to offer these same terms to YouTube TV, according to a report from Alex Sherman of CNBC. YouTube TV, however, is said to be aiming to ingest the content from these platforms so subscribers will not have to leave the ecosystem, something that Disney is reportedly unwilling to allow.
YouTube TV is currently estimated to be the fourth-largest pay television provider in the country with over 10 million subscribers, and the company is reportedly looking for more favorable rates in line with its scale. The streaming MVPD TV reached short-term extensions with both NBCUniversal and Fox Corporation amid negotiations to prevent blackouts and announced new contract agreements shortly thereafter. It currently does not carry the TelevisaUnivision channels or the Monumental Sports Network RSN after being unable to reach new deals earlier in the fall.
Discovery Global to hold Upfront presentation
Despite Warner Bros. Discovery considering a sale with multiple interested bidders, the company is moving ahead with plans to hold an Upfront next year for its forthcoming Discovery Global spinoff business. The presentation is expected to include brands from both Discovery Global and Warner Bros., including TNT Sports, Bleacher Report, CNN, Warner Bros. Television and HBO. Discovery is said to be representing Warner Bros. and HBO properties in the upcoming Upfront season under an advertising deal.
News of the Upfront being scheduled comes as the future plans of Warner Bros. Discovery endure increased scrutiny. There had been reports of Paramount submitting three bids for WBD over the past month, all of which have been rejected, along with purported interest from Netflix and Comcast. WBD CEO David Zaslav has said that he expects the separation of WBD into two publicly-traded companies to be completed by April 2026.
In a statement, WBD president of U.S. advertising sales Bobby Voltaggio touted the event as “a bold new chapter for Discovery Global and Warner Bros.”
WBD has hosted its Upfront presentation from The Theater at Madison Square Garden since the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery in 2022. Earlier in the week, NBCUniversal will hold its Upfront from Radio City Music Hall that will include Versant, the soon-to-be publicly-traded spin company containing most of the NBCU cable networks. The legal separation of NBCU and Versant is set for New Year’s Day.
Magnus attributes McAfee backlash to disruption of status quo
In response to claims that some of Pat McAfee’s co-workers are “fed up” with the “College Gameday” contributor’s behavior, ESPN president of content Burke Magnus told Front Office Sports that it is “not surprising when there’s friction and disagreement” in response to “someone who disrupts the status quo.” Magnus hailed McAfee as a “creative force” and “innovator,” saying that he has had an “enormous” impact on “College GameDay.”
The report of internal criticism of McAfee came after he posted on social media last Tuesday that “old white people and old ESPN people” are those who hate him the most, implying that “Gameday” producers are among them. McAfee has been working on “Gameday” since 2022 where he delivers analysis, leads a weekly field-goal kicking contest and has at times engaged in memorable stunts.
Some of the people inside ESPN are reportedly tired of McAfee complaining in public, something that they are said to view as “juvenile, unprofessional and bad for business.” These people believe that he should handle issues with “College GameDay” producers internally rather than publicly. One source cited in the report added that McAfee “sometimes acts like an ‘entitled diva.'”
There have been numerous instances when McAfee has called out ESPN personnel, including accusing former executive Norby Williamson of sabotaging his program in January 2024. Over the summer when the WWE PLE deal with ESPN was announced, McAfee said that he assumes “mid level, powerless, bum ass suits at ESPN” would “attempt to muddy this somehow,” adding that the pact would “outlive the dinosaurs currently guarding desks in Bristol.”
News: NFL Berlin Game, Michelle Beadle, Lionsgate Television, Cumulus Media
- Play-by-play announcer Adam Amin will work with analyst Kurt Warner on the NFL Berlin Game taking place on Nov. 9, a source with knowledge of the situation told Sports Media Watch. In addition, Kristina Pink and Stacey Dales will report from the sidelines of the Atlanta Falcons and Indianapolis Colts, respectively, while Mike Pereira is going to serve as the rules analyst.
- Michelle Beadle is reuniting with Cody Decker for a rebooted live version of “Beadle & Decker,” the program that formerly aired on SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio prior to the arrival of Stephen A. Smith in middays. The hosts, who last worked together on the platform in June, will stream the new show Monday through Thursday at 12 PM PT on YouTube, Twitch, X and Facebook.
- Lionsgate Television has reportedly endured challenges as it looks to prepare a scripted series about the gambling scandal involving Ippei Mizuhara, the former translator for Los Angeles Dodgers two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani. Gary Baum of The Hollywood Reporter explained that acquisition executives have concerns about how becoming involved with the project “might damage their parent companies’ current or future relationships with Major League Baseball.”
- Cumulus Media is looking to hasten the discovery process in its antitrust lawsuit against Nielsen Media Research, arguing that delay in such could result in “irreparable harm” to its national radio network business. The company, which is proposing discovery to be completed later in November, conveyed that it needs to receive an injunction to keep operating without disruption as various advertising and content contracts are signed late in the year.
