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If you thought the contract dispute that pulled 21 Disney-owned channels (including ESPN and ABC) from YouTube TV last week was bad, the news is getting even worse. The tense battle between the two companies has escalated further, moving beyond live TV and into Google’s entire digital content ecosystem. Effective immediately, Disney has begun pulling its owned media from all of Google’s digital storefronts.
You can no longer buy or rent Disney content
According to a new report from Android Authority, movies and TV shows owned by Disney or its subsidiaries are no longer available for purchase or rent on Google Play, YouTube, or Google TV.
If you browse to a landing page for a Disney-owned film, like Pixar’s Coco, you’ll find that the “Buy” and “Rent” options have simply vanished. The only way to watch this content on Google’s platforms now is if you previously purchased it or if you have an active Disney Plus subscription linked to your account.
Marvel, Lucasfilm, and 20th Century Fox are all gone
This takedown is staggering in its scope, extending far beyond classic Disney and Pixar films. It includes the entire catalog of Disney’s subsidiaries, meaning all Marvel, Lucasfilm (Star Wars), and 20th Century Fox properties are also unavailable. The report even notes that content made by studios like 20th Century Fox before Disney acquired them is also being pulled. This is a massive show of force from Disney, using its entire content library as leverage in its negotiations with Google.
This all stems from the failure to renew the YouTube TV contract, which expired on October 30. While the dispute over live channels continues, this new battle over digital sales shows just how deep the disagreement is.
It’s unclear how this will all end. While Google has navigated content battles in the past, Disney is a different beast, with a massive content library and a directly competing service in Hulu. For now, YouTube TV subscribers are left without live sports, and Google’s digital storefronts now have a massive, Disney-shaped hole in them.
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