ESPN Forced To Remove Their Video Content From YouTube

ESPN was forced to pull its videos from YouTube because of the YouTube Red deal. Even though Disney, the parenting company of ESPN, has a deal with YouTube for its new subscription service, due to rights issues involving its content, the sports network is prohibited from participating.

According to a report by TechCrunch, YouTube requires creators to agree to participate in YouTube Red or see their videos pulled from the video-sharing website. Since ESPN is not part of the Red deal, the large majority of ESPN’s video content has been removed from YouTube in the U.S.

However, some of ESPN’s older content will remain on YouTube. For example, though most of the current videos on ESPN’s main channel are gone, video clips from 2012 and earlier are still available, though the majority of ESPN’s more than a dozen channels now have no videos at all.

The list of channels without videos includes ESPN, GameDayESPN, ESPNU, SportsNationESPN, ESPN1stTake, TheNBAonESPN, His and Hers, and more. Only Nacion ESPN and X-Games still have content on their channels.

When a YouTube viewer visits these ESPN channels now, he or she will see a message that reads, “This channel has no content.”

Following the Oct 28 YouTube Red launch initially available only in the U.S., subscribers will be able to watch YouTube videos without the distraction of ads. YouTube Red also allows users to save videos for offline viewing, and play them in the background while switching apps. The new YouTube Red service covers the new YouTube Music app, as well as access to Google Play Music.

ESPN’s flagship channel had over 1.6 million subscribers. Others had tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of subscribers, according to TechCrunch.

YouTube says that, in order to offer the premium features that come with YouTube Red, which includes no commercials, offline access, and users being able to play videos in the background of other apps, the video-sharing website could not have just some of its video creator community participating, while others choose not to.

YouTube added that partial participation in the Red service would ruin the end user’s experience if they come across select videos and channels featuring commercials, after they paid for a commercial-free experience.

So, if the content creator doesn’t agree to join YouTube Red’s subscription service, then they cannot be on YouTube at all. YouTube said 99 percent of content creators signed the new terms and joined Red.

ESPN notes that it have not revised its statement regarding the larger content removal.

“ESPN is not currently part of the Red service. Content previously available on the free YouTube service will be available across ESPN digital properties.”

Even though TechCrunch says that Disney has a deal with YouTube Red, ESPN itself does not have the authority to distribute its videos using this new subscription video service, primarily because ESPN has other contracts currently in place, including those with a number of distribution partners.

In addition to ESPN pulling its content off YouTube, a few Japanese gaming videos are also being pulled in the U.S. due to disputes pertaining to the YouTube Red service agreement. Others report that various music videos, like those in the vocaloid or jpop genres, are also being impacted by the deal’s terms, according to TechCrunch.

The problem in these types of cases is that the content creators want to monetize their videos using ads and have not signed the subscription deal with YouTube Red. Their videos will be available in other non-U.S. markets that support ads, but these videos are gone from the U.S. version of YouTube.

It’s not clear whether ESPN will ever be part of YouTube Red. Nevertheless, for now the majority of the content that was freely available on YouTube is being offered across ESPN’s various digital properties.

[Photo by Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images for ESPN]