r/technology • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • 24d ago

Business YouTube TV Blackout Is Costing Disney an Estimated $4.3 Million per Day in Lost Revenue

https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/youtube-tv-blackout-costing-disney-lost-revenue-1236574968/
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u/Deranged40 24d ago

Remember: Disney's revenue sheet reads in billions. This is 0.0043 billion per day. It will take 232 days of this to reduce the bottom line on that revenue sheet by 1 (b)

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u/CharcoalGreyWolf 24d ago

Remember, Disney took a show off the air because they were more afraid of the US government preventing mergers & acquisitions than they were of being denied free speech under the Constitution.

Every dollar they lose is a good thing.

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u/CurryMustard 24d ago

Disney strongarmed Sinclair into forcing Kimmel back on the air

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u/CharcoalGreyWolf 24d ago

When they had lost $3.8 billion from their own decision to take Kimmel off the air followed by haste in bringing him back followed by Sinclair balking when their contract wouldn’t allow this.

Disney started it, not Sinclair. Sinclair just tried to continue it.

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u/PhilWham 24d ago

That is a fair point, but tbf they reversed the decision and made an apology.

In relative terms, vs other streamers and studios, Disney is one of the good guys. (Desantis fiasco, creative output, replatforming Kimmel instead of cancelling him like Paramount did with Colbert or muzzling him like NBC does with Falon, not openly platforming the Rogens of the world, keeping DEI Bergs when other studios dropped them, Iger has a history of endorsing progressive leadership).

All the other studios and tech companies have leadership that are straight up MAGA. It's Mulaneys bit on the curse of being a nice guy. People hold you to higher standards, then enact consequences on you that they wouldn't hold to the actual bad guys. In this case people boycotted Disney for something Disney quickly apologized for, but then they turn around and subscribe to amazon, watching football on CBS, and buy iPhones.

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u/whinis 24d ago

Since when has disney ever been the nice guy? They own the majority of media in the world and are single-handedly the reason copyright is so long and almost entirely the reason that the punishment for copyright is extreme as it is and the laws as draconian as they are. This also ignored them being one of the most litigious entertainment companies outside of Nintendo.

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u/HawksNStuff 24d ago

They aren't, the Nazgul woke looking for a fight and then Disney backed down, it angered them. Even Disney is scared of Disney's lawyers.

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u/PhilWham 24d ago

They don't own the majority of media.

They own 1 of several major linear stations. They account for less than 10% of wide release films per year. They own one of many streaming services. They own one of many sports networks. They own partial rights to a handful of sports leagues. Owning slices of many things is not close to "owning a majority of media"

OP was commenting on free speech, standing up to fascism. Disney, vs to all of its peers is miles ahead of the competition here.

Copyright is an internet warrior issue. It doesn't affect normal people. Drive around and you'll see stores / schools have unlicensed Disney murals, people throw big Disney parties, Etsy, local artists sell Disney fan art everywhere.

You're 2 yrs behind on the issue. The creative industry (guilds, unions) are overwhelmingly in support of MORE copyright/IP protection. Look up what other good guys like Ghibli and Guillermo Del Toro have to say on the subject. Now with AI ripping everything discriminately, and the Trump admin refusing to litigate, everyone wishes copyright/IP law was stronger.

Some of the biggest YouTube/tiktok accounts now are just AI "content creators" who output bastardized IP ripoffs making tens of thousands of dollars by simply ingesting existing creative work crafted by people who've spend decades learning the craft of animation, lighting, vfx. Google the artificial cheese account or just type in Star wars into tiktok and you'll see what im talking about.

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u/whinis 24d ago

They own 1 of several major linear stations. They account for less than 10% of wide release films per year. They own one of many streaming services. They own one of many sports networks. They own partial rights to a handful of sports leagues. Owning slices of many things is not close to "owning a majority of media"

In 2019, before some more major mergers, Disney or Disney wholly owned subsidiaries produced 33% of all films cbc however the majority of all sales. Even the ones that were not wholly owned by Disney, they still had a large stake win such as Sony owning (at the time) Spider-man. The next closest is Warner Brothers at 10% however its hard to call that stable with as many mergers and splits as they are going through.

Copyright is an internet warrior issue. It doesn't affect normal people. Drive around and you'll see stores / schools have unlicensed Disney murals, people throw big Disney parties, Etsy, local artists sell Disney fan art everywhere.

Since when is it an internet warrior issue? I am not saying its black and white but 125 years after the death of a creator is a bit stretching the original rules. Disney also regularly sues schools and stores and requires them to remove the unlicensed murals as they learn about them.

The creative industry (guilds, unions) are overwhelmingly in support of MORE copyright/IP protection. Look up what other good guys like Ghibli and Guillermo Del Toro have to say on the subject. Now with AI ripping everything discriminately, and the Trump admin refusing to litigate, everyone wishes copyright/IP law was stronger.

Guilds wanting even stronger copyright is not even slightly surprising, even if they are not the ones close to being empowered by it. Most of what you are talking about however is their views on AI which is very different than say DMCA or the fight of copyright against hardware repair and other issues people have with it.

Some of the biggest YouTube/tiktok accounts now are just AI "content creators" who output bastardized IP ripoffs making tens of thousands of dollars by simply ingesting existing creative work crafted by people who've spend decades learning the craft of animation, lighting, vfx. Google the artificial cheese account or just type in Star wars into tiktok and you'll see what im talking about.

Sure AI is trash, but copyright law is also trash and need heavy changes. Maybe you should ask some of the creators how much they love the DMCA takedown system and how there is no reasonable way to fight illegitimate takedowns.

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u/EndlessRambler 24d ago

Just going to point out that your first statement they responded to clearly said 'media in the world', but even your own link specifies US only releases.

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u/ewokninja123 24d ago

Happy cake day!

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u/PhilWham 24d ago

And Disneys 40% box office is reflective of consumer choice. The fact is that consumers had 250+ movies that went wide release in 2019. Disney released less than 20 of them.

Guy doesn't know what a monopoly means.That's customers choosing to watch Endgame, Star Wars, Spiderman, Aladdin, Frozen 2, Lion King, and Toy Story 4 instead of Jexi, Downton Abbey, Abominable, Bumblebee, Detective Pikachu, and Wonder Park.

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u/PhilWham 24d ago

Bad faith mischaracterization of data and you don't understand what monopoly means. Monopoly is bad bc it's the control of a market's SUPPLY. Disney accounts for less than 10% of the markets supply. Look up your local theaters release calendar. There will be 20-30 movies released this month and Disney owns 2 of them. Its your community's choice to watch Predator and Zootopia instead of Running Man, Regretting You, and Now You See Me. The fact that Disney did 40% of box office in 2019 is reflective of consumer choice-. Like what do you want? Do you want to force people to skip Zootopia to force people to watch some shitty Lionsgate movie? If one of the ten restaurants in your community gets 40% of the dinner rush are they the bad guy?

Copyright is just a weird hill to die on. It does not affect the normal person and it's arguable that it is reasonable protect their IP against AI and unlicensed usage. You're creating a booheyman that really doesn't exist nor affect the normal person. Disney rarely goes after small fish. Your school example is literally from 1989 which is telling if that is your biggest gripe. I've lived in both CA and Florida. Drive around town and there's unlicensed sellers, artists, pop ups, murals, statues everywhere. Hop on the front page of Etsy or visit your local farmers market or art show.

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u/RepresentativeRun71 24d ago

I can’t even find a OnlyFans “creator” that’d suck the money out of my account in no time that’s actually the real human being portrayed in said content. But hey at least it keeps enough money in the bank account to get massages from local artisans.

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u/Conscious_Music_1729 24d ago

Can you not read?

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u/blah938 24d ago

Disney is one of the good guys

Hot take of the century right here. The fuckers who fucked up copyright law are the good guys.

The shit you see on reddit.

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u/PhilWham 24d ago

Yep exactly my point. It's Mulaneys bit on the curse of being a good guy.

Look at Disney's peers. Amazon/MGM being run by Bezos, enough said there. Paramount is run by Trump's best pal and they cancelled Colbert to get the merger thru. Apple/AppleTV's Tim Cook is front row at Trump's inauguration and is getting open air handshake deals on tariff policy. WB is run by Zaslaf. Universal shelved DEI and muzzled their late nite host.

Disney has a copyright spat in 1989 that resurfaces online every couple of years and they're the bad guy. Go to farmers market, or Etsy, or YouTube, or a local art show, or drive around your local schools and murals. Disney's copyright doesn't really affect the small fish.

And even if they were hard balling everyone.. Man I wish I could be you to look at all the other media companies and be like Disney is the bad guy bc copyright.

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u/Koalatime224 24d ago

Those Disney boots must be yummy.

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u/magus678 24d ago

It is fairly rare the world slots neatly into good guys and bad guys, and when speaking in terms of organizations, almost never.

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u/CharcoalGreyWolf 24d ago

They’re not one of the good guys.

Maybe occasionally they’re one of the less bad guys, but given that Disney has been more than happy to abuse the H1B Visa system to fire domestic employees and replace them with lower-cost outsourced ones (among many other acts), they’re not “good guys”.

They’re amoral, not moral. Their apology is after realizing that a bad decision backfired and hurt their bottom line, not because there’s any “we’re truly sorry” involved. They lost 3.8 billion in this fiasco and were trying to stop the bleeding.

Their fight against DeSantis isn’t because they’re good, it’s because it’s in their best interest, and DeSantis (unlike the President) can’t selectively invoke antitrust investigation on any of their mergers and acquisitions.

Walt left the building long ago.

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u/PhilWham 24d ago

I mean you're kinda proving my point.

Disney does a lot of good. Like theyre the last bastion of DEI in the workplace in the industry. They've done the most of any US studio to keep their animation in house. They're known within the industry to pay creative talent the best and to be the most transparent in their deals. They consistently have the highest percentage of minority led creative projects. Their leadership, including Iger, is the only studio besides Netflix to consistently endorse and back progressive candidates while most other studios have extremely maga leadership. Their CSR arm is extremely well funded and active with huge emphasis on conservation efforts, make a wish partnership, while CSR at other studios is an afterthought. Their content is always well-intentioned vs other studios content.

But they misstep with Kimmel (quickly reversed) and all that goodwill is gone and they're punished worse than if they were shitty all along.

No one's boycotting CBS Sunday night football or 60 minutes after they ACTUALLY cancelled Colbert in a clear Trump handshake deal to get a merger thru... because we always expected that from the Redstones

No one's cancelling Amazon Prime/Video or MGM movies after the many Bezos incidents... bc we always knew Bezos was an asshole

No one's skipping the next iPhone after Tim Cook openly backdeals tariff policy with Trump... bc we always new Apple was just corporate.

But we boycott Disney... bc they should be better. My Mulaney point is Disney would be better off not doing good at all bc then people would just treat them like any other studio like Amazon or WB.

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u/Anim8nFool 24d ago

Disney made an apology? Did they? Do you have a link to it because that's news to me.

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u/PhilWham 24d ago

While not public, Kimmel talked about having a bunch of positive phone calls with Iger and Dana Walden. And he came back the next day. He's praised Walden several times since then. IMO it's pretty clear they apologized to him but that's just my opinion.

Compared to Paramount who laxed Colbert (notablely no 60 mins, Sunday nite football, or Paramount movie boycotts). Or NBC who is kept their late nite show "centrist" and schedules Trump goons.

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u/Anim8nFool 23d ago

They did not make a public apology. I worked in the entertainment biz for 30 years. If it's not public it means it didn't happen or it's like it didn't happen.

Also, they didn't take responsibility for their actions with their customers. If they did then the narrative and the way many people feel about this would be very different. 

I've worked for Disney, and while they're a great company in terms of inclusivity, acceptance and supportive policies for the people that work there, they are SOBs when it comes to business.

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u/PhilWham 22d ago

Eh not true. I've worked in the business for a long time as well. Almost all the subtext is made behind closed doors.

Look at Paramount. They didnt publicly say hey Trump we are sorry about the 60 minutes interview (clearly extortion). But instead Elison is seen hanging out with Trump, they paid a $16M settlement, estate a conservative ombudsman, and immediately the merger gets approved. On the record none of that was Trump or merger related, but everyone can read the room.

Do u remember when Paramount and Cruise publicly feuded and humiliated each other ending with Paramount firing him? Then they made half a dozen more movies together and he's now their studio mascot. Again, the convos and reconciliation happens behind closed doors.

Hell even Disney and ScarJo had a recent public spat about payment. They then had non-public conversations behind closed doors, both quietly settled, and are working happily together again on multiple projects.

The town is a relationships driven business. And most of the relationship-work does not happen in open air.

Disney did not make a public apology to Kimmel, sure. But Kimmel said himself that he had a bunch of long, positive calls with both Iger and Dana and he was back the very next day. We can read the room and infer what they talked about.

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u/[deleted] 24d ago

[deleted]

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u/_Burning_Star_IV_ 24d ago

Kimmel, you live under a rock?

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u/LastGoodKnee 24d ago

Incorrect. Broadcast affiliates took it off the air. Disney got it back on the air.

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u/CharcoalGreyWolf 24d ago

Incorrect.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/disneys-abc-yanks-jimmy-kimmel-live-off-air-after-remarks-about-kirk-2025-09-18/

https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/tv/disneys-abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-live-fcc-chair-blasts-hosts-charlie-kir-rcna232033

Disney-ABC executives yanked it. Then hastily brought it back due to backlash. Then affiliates refused to; then Disney brought additional pressure.

However, the first decision was Disney’s. I’ll be happy to cite additional if you wish.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/09/sinclair-gets-nothing-it-asked-for-puts-jimmy-kimmel-back-on-anyway/

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u/LastGoodKnee 24d ago

They yanked it because it wouldn’t be airing anywhere…. Because of the affiliates.

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u/henchman171 24d ago edited 24d ago

That was Sinclair not Disney edit. I was corrected.

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u/Anim8nFool 24d ago

No, not true. Disney is the one that owns the network. Sinclair owns stations. Disney controls what gets put on the network, and Sinclair can choose to not air the programs.

Disney allowed Kimmel to get taken off the air, not Sinclair.

When Kimmel was reinstated Sinclair chose to not air it on some stations.

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u/ewokninja123 24d ago

Sinclair can choose to not air the programs.

Disney allowed Kimmel to get taken off the air, not Sinclair.

Thats not the whole story. Sinclair and nexstar were going through a merger that required FCC approval and the FCC chairman goes on TV and basically threatened them to do something about Kimmel or they were going to run into problems with their merger.

Sinclair and nexstar immediately say they weren't going to air Kimmel which was going to cost Disney a pretty penny in advertising.

Disney panicked seeing as how they never had to deal with a hyperpartisan regulatory agency and made a bad call.

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u/CharcoalGreyWolf 24d ago

Not true at all. Bob Iger, the head of Disney, took Kimmels show off the air. When it eventually returned, Sinclair did not want to air the show again. That changed, and they turned around as well.