Sling vs Disney

I got a rude awakening yesterday. Turns out that Sling TV and Disney could not reach a renewal agreement and as of Saturday, Disney channels are not available on Sling Orange, meaning no ESPN.

For someone who only subscribed during football season, this is a big deal. Heck, for people who subscribe year round it is a big deal, if ESPN and the other Disney owned channels are what they're after.

Sling TV's Website gives their side of the story:

The Walt Disney Company

OUR CONTRACT WITH THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY HAS EXPIRED

Our goal and priority was to reach an agreement with Disney that ensures you get the best possible value from Sling.

We were on track for a new deal until Disney walked away from negotiations. Sling will always fight to get you the lowest and fairest price for TV.

What’s Happening and Why?

• We were not able to reach a mutual renewal agreement with Disney. Without a contract in place, we are legally required to remove their channels from our service.
• We offered Disney a contract extension to keep working towards an agreement and avoid any interruption to your service. They refused this offer.
• Disney is expecting us and our customers to pay nearly a billion dollars more for the same channels you are enjoying today.
• Disney hopes that by doing this, you will get upset and ultimately contact Sling to put pressure on us to accept their higher rates.
• Our commitment is to stand up for our customers and we feel strongly about fighting for a fair rate.

What channels are impacted?

• Disney Channel, Disney Jr, Disney XD, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN 3, ESPN OnDemand, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, ESPN Deportes, ACC Network, ACC Network Extra, Longhorn Network, SEC Network, SEC+, Freeform, FX, FXM, FXX, Nat Geo, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Mundo, ABC News Live, Jimmy Kimmel Live, BabyTV, BabyTV Arabic, BabyTV French, BabyTV Latino, BabyTV Mandarin, BabyTV, Polish, BabyTV Portuguese

So what did I do yesterday? YouTube TV. While it's not the second cheapest option for ESPN -- Sling is/was cheapest, Vidgo is second cheapest -- the price between Vidgo and YouTube TV is not much, and there are some channels I may watch. Had it been only ESPN, then Vidgo is the next cheapest option.

When will this be resolved? I certainly don't know. Soon, I hope. But for the next month, I'm good with YouTube TV. I wasn't able to do a free trial, as I've done that before. Yes, I could have used another email address and got a free trial, but I'm gonna pay somebody for the channels, so I'll go ahead and pay them.

Things like this can certainly disrupt your Streaming Life. It did mine. But, the good news is that it's easy to find another option. Not always an option as cheap, but there are options.