Disney 4 October 2025 - 31 October 2025

After weeks of warnings, the YouTube TV–Disney carriage agreement expired at midnight ET on October 31, 2025 without a new deal. Within minutes, YouTube TV pulled all Disney-owned networks from its lineupawfulannouncing.comvulture.com. This blackout spans over 20 channels, including major broadcasters and cable staples: the local ABC stations, the entire ESPN family, Disney Channel and Disney Junior, FX and FXX, National Geographic and Nat Geo Wild, Freeform, and morevulture.comvulture.com. In practical terms, if you tried to tune into SportsCenter on ESPN or your local ABC morning news on YouTube TV right now, you’d find nothing but a message that the channel is unavailable.

In a move that could reshape the global streaming landscape, Disney has begun dismantling its 20‑year‑old Hulu platform and folding it into its flagship Disney+ service. Beginning 8 October 2025 in markets outside the United States, Disney will rebrand the Star tile in Disney+ as Hulu, turning the once U.S.-only service into the company’s global general‑entertainment brand variety.com. This change marks the latest step in a strategy to consolidate Disney’s sprawling streaming empire—Disney+, Hulu and ESPN—into one unified “super app” by 2026. The integration promises personalized recommendations, live sports hubs and dynamic navigation but also ushers in significant price increases and raises questions about the future of the Hulu brand.