- Disney stands firm in streaming disputes, relying on its strong content library.
- Disney withdraws from acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery, focusing on 2026 blockbuster slate.
- Subscriber growth, streaming revenue, and sports calendar fuel streaming optimism.
Surprise, surprise — the Walt Disney Company (DIS) is ready to bet on itself.
According to Disney’s Thursday morning Q4 earnings call (transcript available here), Disney will dig its heels in and fight both of its ongoing streaming battles to the bitter end, believing its content library will carry the day.
The consequence could be short-term pain for customers (and Google’s YouTubeTV), but much better deals for Disney in the longer term, where they will be covered by the upside of their joint NBA rights acquisition with NBCU (CMCSA) and Amazon (AMZN).
“We’re in the middle of negotiations right now,” Disney CFO Hugh Johnston said about the YouTubeTV standoff on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Thursday morning. “Things are live, they’re happening…and we’re ready to go as long as they want to.”
All Disney channels, including ESPN and ABC programming, are currently blacked out on YouTubeTV. See what channels are live on your streamer in my guide here.
Lost in the shuffle, but equally important, Disney declared itself out of the race to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD).
Disney are bowing out of their pursuit to buy out Warner Bros. Discovery (which includes TNT and HBO Max) based on the same perceived position of strength of their content library that is allowing them to stand firm against YouTubeTV.
Carlos Gomez, Walt Disney Corporation’s head of investor relations, explained the company’s current view of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) during its Nov. 13 earnings call.
“In terms of other competitors, we’ll see how the various moves play out, but we like the hand that we have right now, so I wouldn’t expect us to participate in making any significant moves,” Gomez added.
If you’re wondering what Disney sticking to its guns on both will mean for both diehard fans and shareholder value…well, there’s nuance to both positions, as Iger and Johnston conveyed during Thursday’s media blitz.
Disney not backing down from YouTubeTV
Disney is fighting a streaming war on two fronts. Accordingly, CEO Bob Iger and his executive team sought to lay out Disney’s strategy — and put further pressure on YouTube — during the Q4 earnings call.
Front of mind was Disney’s ongoing dispute with YouTubeTV, where Disney’s blackout of its channels on the service is costing YouTubeTV an arm and a leg (if an arm and a leg cost $4 million a day).
This struggle has enraged customers who are missing their favorite reality programs on ABC, as well as their ESPN-affiliated sports programming.
Related: Disney CFO drops bold warning as YouTube TV feud bleeds millions
Both Iger and CFO Hugh Johnston seemed ready to tough out the financial pain of this who-will-tap-out-first blackout against YouTubeTV for the foreseeable future, backed by strong Q4 streaming numbers, per Reuters, and a bullish sports future due to its NBA deal, Monday Night Football, and ESPN in general.
Check out the new NBA programming, with four days featuring Disney programming (ABC, ESPN), and Wednesday’s game as an ESPN exclusive:
NBA
Operating from this position of streaming strength, Iger shared strong words meant to calm the public and (subtly) turn up the heat on YouTubeTV:
“It’s also imperative that we make sure that we agree to a deal that reflects the value that we deliver, which both YouTube and Alphabet have told us is greater than the value of any other provider,” Iger said on Thursday’s Q4 call, explaining the delay.
“We’re not trying to break new ground. The offer that’s on the table is commensurate with deals that we’ve already struck with actual distributors that are larger than [YouTubeTV].“
The big takeaway, which would explain their stance on this and the Warner Bros. sale, is that Disney truly believes in the unique and formidable value of its content library. This belief was reaffirmed by impressive Q4 2025 streaming numbers.
For Disney’s Q4 (and fiscal year), which ended September 27, combined Disney+ and Hulu revenue was up 8% for the quarter, clocking $6.25 billion. Additionally, Disney+ added 3.8 million subscribers, and Hulu recruited 8.6 million for a total of about 12.4 million, per analysis by Variety.
“We built a hedge into that with the expectation that these discussions could go for a little while, CFO Hugh Johnston said on the Q4 call, speaking about the YouTubeTV holdup.
“In terms of the dollar impacts, keep in mind there’s two pieces to it. There’s the piece that we’re not getting paid for, and then the piece that we’re picking up by virtue of subscribers moving elsewhere.”
Essentially, Johnston is saying that Disney’s content catalog is strong enough to give them a higher pain threshold than YouTubeTV, which could allow them to outlast the streamer and get a better deal.
That said, YouTube always has the trump card of being owned by Google and its immense war chest, meaning it can take a beating and keep rumbling forward.
As for Disney’s bowing out of the grand Warner Bros. pursuit ball…
Disney out on Warner Bros. despite dismal Q4 box office
I’ve written at length about some of Disney’s worst Q3 theatrical bets (cough “Tron: Ares,” cough, cough).
I’ve also written about how its plan for Q1 (now through the holiday season) blockbusters, namely “Avatar: Fire and Ash” and “Zootopia 2,” is Disney’s break-glass-in-case-of-emergency solution to get it back in the black.
“We’re very encouraged by the studio slate that is coming up. In fact, we have a premiere of ‘Zootopia 2’ tonight,” Bob Iger reaffirmed this morning. “That is our Thanksgiving release. We finish the calendar year with ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash.’ Obviously, we have very, very high hopes for that.”
So Bob is sticking to the strategy. For the record, it’s one that may work, as both films are sequels in franchises with previous billion-dollar hits and huge global fandoms.
Fascinatingly, Bob went on to double down, throwing down the gauntlet to all other studios in 2026:
That’s great news, as 2025 has been dire for Marvel Studios, with all three major releases falling well short of box office expectations. “Fantastic Four: First Steps” made $520 million internationally, “Captain America: Brave New World” earned just $200 million, and “Thunderbolts*” pulled $190 million, per Box Office Mojo’s Marvel box office data.
Compare that to Marvel’s all-time best performers.
Top 5 Marvel films of all time, by global box office:
- “Avengers: Endgame” (2019): $2,799,439,100
- “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018): $2,052,415,039
- “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (2021): $1,921,426,073
- “Black Panther” (2018): $1,349,926,083
- “Deadpool & Wolverine” (2024): $1,338,073,645
Source: Box Office Mojo
That’s quite a ways off, and fans and shareholders alike are getting tired of waiting for Marvel to return to form.
Accounting for Iger’s strong belief in his 2026 slate, however, helps contextualize why Disney is stepping out of the Warner Bros. race: If it can win big in 2026 and get Marvel back on the right course, it will be raking it in better than most on both the film and TV fronts.
At that point, who needs a new prestige TV farm (HBO) associated with Warner Bros. film studios? I mean, it’s nice, but do you need need it?
In my opinion, maybe. These days, in a volatile content world, you can’t have too much of a good thing.
But Disney is dialed in on getting a competitive deal with YouTubeTV and making sure its 2026 film slate hits like Thor’s hammer, which is an understandable priority. Get your base right before you go reaching, I guess.
There are far too many hands in the Warner Bros. split vs. buyout fiasco, anyway.
Related: Warner Bros. Discovery just got a boost, and buyers are circling
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