Programmers and NAB Blast Virtual MVPDs After Blackouts
Programmers and NAB criticized YouTube TV and Hulu on Wednesday after multiple networks went dark on the virtual MVPDs due to failed carriage talks.
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Univision said its blackout on the YouTube TV lineup as of 12:01 a.m. was "especially tone-deaf and egregious on the eve of a potential government shutdown, disregarding the appeals of government officials and Hispanic organizations who urged them to keep Univision on the main bundle."
Washington regional sports network Monumental Sports said that its YouTube TV and Hulu blackouts as of Wednesday "reflect a troubling reality in the pay-TV industry: independent regional sports networks like Monumental are being squeezed out by large, multinational streaming companies using anti-competitive tactics." Disney-owned Hulu and Google-owned YouTube TV "are following a similar pattern, sacrificing the interests of local communities while seeking to consolidate control over sports programming. These platforms simply do not value our fans or the role regional sports play in their communities."
"The unchecked dominance of Big Tech companies like Google and its ability to dictate what millions of households can and cannot watch through its YouTube TV platform is a problem for competition and consumers," an NAB spokesperson said in a statement. Big Tech has "the upper hand to not only lock out independent, news-leading local stations from their lineup, but also to push around companies like NBCUniversal and TelevisaUnivision. In this case, Google’s actions will have the added impact of depriving millions of Spanish-speaking viewers access to the most trusted broadcast news, sports and entertainment.”
Hulu and YouTube TV didn't comment.