Hill: Don’t let ESPN, YouTube TV off the hook just because deal is done

Did you happen to be watching live when that absolutely horrific $1 million kick attempt was shanked on Saturday’s edition of “College Gameday” in Pittsburgh?

I mean, it was awful. Seriously bro, borrowed soccer cleats with jeans? Interesting choice for the biggest opportunity of your life.

But back to the point.

Many more people are answering in the affirmative about having watched it live instead of social media clips and livestreams than would have been able to do so about 12 hours before the broadcast thanks to the resolution in the two-week-long carriage dispute between YouTube TV and Disney.

ESPN and several other affected channels were back on the platform Saturday and the long, national nightmare was over just in time for a big sports day.

Oh, thank you so ever so much, corporate overlords.

The plan all week was to focus this column on the dispute between the two behemoth conglomerates and what it meant for consumers.

That was obviously altered when the agreement was announced Friday evening and the channels started repopulating on YouTube TV.

The first reaction was simply relief.

To be grateful to have all the content back just a single click of the remote or voice command away.

To be content that the product we all pay so much for every month was back and just move on with life.

But, no. That’s not right.

Relying on apathy

It pretty quickly dawned on me that we as consumers often make these situations way too easy on the providers. There is a firestorm of complaints and social media posts about these situations while they are ongoing and then everyone just goes back to their day-to-day routine when it’s over like nothing happened.

Until the next time the exact same thing happens and some other dispute begins between some other corporate giants that affects so many people and becomes an issue again and so on.

It’s a vicious cycle and one these companies are counting on.

Look no further than right in the middle of this latest blackout.

A national survey indicated 24 percent of YouTube TV users had either canceled or planned to cancel their subscriptions to the nation’s largest streaming service. A statement from a rep for the platform basically shrugged off that number in a statement to Variety.

“While subscriber churn is always regrettable, it’s been manageable and does not align with the findings of this survey,” the statement read.

Basically, people are huffing and puffing, but they’re not blowing the house down.

The companies know people are far too busy with work and school and kids and social lives and watching the world burn right before our eyes to keep the same energy once these disputes are resolved.

Don’t fall into it.

Stay vigilant

It has to be known that this frustration can’t just be magically healed with a resolution and everything is copacetic again.

Keep sending emails. Keep posting on social media. Keep the frustration in the cultural zeitgeist. Cancel subscriptions and make platforms earn your business back again.

And while this time it’s about Google and Disney, it’s not just about them. They are not alone, just the most recent and most prominent.

This isn’t about picking a side, either. There is plenty of blame to go around and if you have to tip the needle in one direction, this one was probably more about Disney wanting to force a better deal knowing the alternative for consumers was simply to go directly to it for the content either through the ESPN app or by switching to Hulu or Fubo.

They were in a win-win situation where the only potential losers were the consumers.

In the end, a deal was announced that will include access to ESPN Unlimited and potentially even Disney-Plus and other content.

That’s great. Seriously. Can’t wait to see the bill on that, though.

Maybe this is the chance to be proactive.

Make them lock in your rate for all of this additional content now as a condition of maintaining your subscription.

Get something out of this while you have some power.

Or don’t.

It’s Saturday and I have ESPN back. I’m going back to my quad box and enjoying some games.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.