Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect that, while Disney has officially announced ESPN Unlimited is available to YouTube TV customers at no cost, customers (including myself) are not yet able to access ESPN Unlimited content through the ESPN app and on web browsers.
On Friday (Nov. 14), YouTube TV and Disney struck a deal that finally returned ESPN, ABC and a host of other Disney-owned channels to the live TV streaming service after two weeks of blackouts. That was a big relief to customers like me, though admittedly, claiming my $20 credit for missing out on Disney softened the blow.
But if you weren't paying attention to the news closely, you might have missed one important detail. With this new distribution agreement, YouTube TV subscribers are getting access to the ESPN Unlimited streaming service for free.
What is ESPN Unlimited?
For those of you who haven't heard of ESPN Unlimited, or aren't sure why this is a big deal, let me explain. ESPN Unlimited is a direct-to-consumer streaming service that includes every ESPN network on linear cable TV, ESPN on ABC broadcasts, ESPN Plus content and WWE Premium Live Events, all in one streaming service. In short, it gives you everything ESPN has to offer (except MLB.tv).
You can sign up for this directly from ESPN for $29.99; right now, you can even get Disney Plus (with ads) and Hulu (with ads) included for free for 12 months. But if you have certain cable, satellite or cable TV alternatives, you can also get ESPN Unlimited included in your subscription for no additional charge.
Until this new deal was finalized, YouTube TV was not among those providers that could offer ESPN Unlimited for free. But no longer, and that's a big win for subscribers. While the channels ESPN Unlimited offers were already available through YouTube TV, getting ESPN Plus content and WWE PLEs included for free is a genuine improvement. Especially given how much professional wrestling fans have to pay out of pocket to stream everything from WWE and AEW.
Unfortunately, there does seem to be a slight catch. Despite the announcement of the new YouTube TV and Disney carriage deal stating that ESPN Unlimited would be available to YouTube TV subscribers, it currently isn't. This doesn't appear to be unique to YouTube TV either. Many Xfinity customers are reportedly still unable to authenticate their Xfinity subscription to unlock ESPN Unlimited as well, and Xfinity has offered ESPN Unlimited to its customers for a while now (h/t Awful Announcing).
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