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You might’ve heard a sudden explosion of groans, cries and shouts ring out across North Texas on Monday night around 7 p.m. If you were one of 10 million YouTube TV subscribers, you might’ve been a part of the cacophony when you switched your TV onto ESPN for the Dallas Cowboys’ Monday Night Football game this week. That’s when you likely got really angry, along with many others, to find out that all Disney-owned channels, like ESPN and ABC were blacked out on YouTube TV due to a contract dispute.
DirecTV users experienced a similar issue over Labor Day weekend in 2024, affecting the viewership of the U.S. Open tennis tournament and NFL games. That disruption lasted nearly two weeks.
The current YouTube TV ESPN/ABC blackout began on Oct. 30, and, as of Wednesday afternoon, remains ongoing. If you’re a Dallas Cowboys fan or a Texas Tech fan, let alone a general football or basketball fan, and also a YouTube TV subscriber, this is not only bad news, but it’s really bad timing.
In another year, for Cowboys fans at least, the worst would likely be behind them. Although the local team makes multiple annual appearances on Monday Night Football, they are usually spread out relatively far apart. But not this year. The next time Dak Prescott takes the field with his less-than-awesome team, it will be on Nov. 17 for Monday Night Football.
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If you were as bothered by the team’s performance as we were, perhaps missing the next game on TV is a blessing. But if you’re also like us, you can’t help but keep your eyes affixed to this team in a bad car wreck sort of way
There’s another significant group of folks around here who could be missing their favorite much sooner. The Texas Tech University Red Raiders, enjoying their most promising start in over a decade, are in the national top 10 and are sitting pretty for a spot in the College Football Playoffs. The Lubbock school has a large number of alumni living in North Texas.
This Saturday, Tech faces the BYU Cougars in what is not only the biggest game for either school all season, but arguably the most important game of the week in the entire country, given it’s a matchup of two top-10 schools.
But guess what? The 11 a.m. kickoff will be shown on ABC.
How To Watch ESPN and ABC Without YouTube TV
But because we live in the Wild West of the streaming age, Cowboys and Texas Tech football fans don’t only have to hope and pray that two corporate behemoths finally get over themselves and put their swords down. Even if you’re a YouTube TV subscriber, there are ways for you to watch games on ESPN and ABC, but it’s going to cost you, at least a little, and maybe even a lot, and it might even be a little painful for those of you already experiencing app subscription fatigue.
If you want to simply discontinue your YouTube TV subscription and start over with a new company, or add another multi-channel streamer to your stable, you can watch ABC and ESPN channels through services provided by Fubo, Cox, DirecTV, Dish, Hulu + Live TV, Optimum, Sling, Spectrum, Verizon Fios and Xfinity. It’s worth noting that some services, including Fubo, offer free trial periods, and Sling offers low-priced day and weekly options for those interested in only one game or a short time period.
Not surprisingly, the streaming dispute arose after ESPN introduced its new ESPN+ app. For $29.99 per month, you don’t need an existing cable or streaming subscription to watch ESPN content or any games airing on ABC, such as college football games. Be warned: ESPN Unlimited is different than the cheaper, older ESPN+ plan, so be careful when choosing.
For Cowboys on Monday Night Football only, you can subscribe to the NFL+ app’s premium plan for $14.99 per month with no minimum requirement.
Done with the apps? You do have an old-school option. Because both Monday Night Football and Saturday’s Texas Tech game air on ABC, an “over-the-air channel,” most viewers should be able to watch the game with the help of a digital antenna. For roughly $20 and a few minutes of setup time, you can hope that your home and television are situated in just the right conditions to bring you a decent picture of the game broadcast.
Don’t want to mess with any of the above? Pray the YouTube TV dispute ends soon and make your way to one of the area’s finest sports bars for football fun.
