After Florida took Georgia to the wire last weekend, the Gators will be back at it this Saturday at 7:30 PM on the SEC Network. For Florida fans who have YouTube TV, this is problematic. Last week, the game was on ABC, so it was far easier to access, but this weekend it will require some creative means to access it.
And the shame of it all is that Florida fans are stuck in the middle because Google and Disney can't figure things out.
Gator fans have to get creative to watch Florida vs. Kentucky
The feud between these two conglomerates is based around one thing and one thing only:
Greed.
ESPN, which Disney predominantly owns, has continued this pattern of raising its rates on streaming companies. Sometimes there is a brief squabble before a deal is reached, and inevitably, those higher rates are passed on to consumers.
But Google, the owner of YouTube TV, has the power and cache to fight back and call Disney's bluff. It's being reported that Disney is losing up to $5 million a day each day that ESPN isn't on YouTube TV.
Now, Google themselves are not innocent, as YouTube TV was under $40 when it first rolled out, and a base package today goes for over $80 a month.
Mind you, the leagues themselves also share the blame for this fight. The SEC signed a 10-year, $3 billion deal with ESPN and ABC to be the conference's exclusive home. The TV ratings for the SEC have been great since the deal to be more on ABC, but what does that $3 billion deal mean?
Someone has to foot the bill.
So either that means sneaking more ads and commercial breaks into each game, or when it comes time to negotiate with streaming providers, ESPN needs to charge more money.
If you are keeping score at home, fans themselves see none of this massive revenue being generated and now have to jump through hoops for a second straight week just to support the Gators.
This fight was predictable
This fight was inevitable once ESPN launched "ESPN Unlimited" for $30 a month. Their goal is just to bypass all the streaming services and collect the money for themselves.
The move already screwed over WWE fans who were getting PLEs on Peacock for a third of the price, and it's not hard to envision the long road implications of ESPN trying to gobble up the market.
Sure, ESPN Unlimited is $30 now, and if all you watch on YouTube TV is ESPN, then it's actually a decent financial decision to switch.
But the app is terrible and has somehow gotten worse, and just like YouTube TV was once $40, does anyone think ESPN Unlimited is going to stay at $30?
So if you are the type that tries to do things the right way, we don't blame you.
But if you are the type that has no qualms about sailing the high seas, and potentially streaming the game from the east to watch on Saturday, we don't blame you either.