YouTube TV subscribers who prepaid for NFL Sunday Ticket add-in are frustrated after ESPN blackout — here's how to restore access to Sunday Ticket games

If you got your NFL Sunday Ticket bundled with your YouTube TV subscription, this whole Disney-YouTube carriage dispute just got more annoying. YouTube pulled Disney's catalogue of networks — including ESPN and ABC — from its popular live TV streaming service after a distribution deal between the companies expired on Friday. NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers that bundled with YouTube TV are understandably frustrated, with some demanding refunds and claiming they lost access to games they already prepaid for after they canceled their YouTube TV subscriptions. Well, it seems that may have been a fluke. When reached for comment, YouTube clarified that "Sunday Ticket subscribers still have access to all these games."

"If a user has canceled their YouTube TV plan and is having trouble watching Sunday Ticket, they can contact customer support to restore access to Sunday Ticket games," said Allison Toh, product communications manager at YouTube, via email on Sunday (Nov. 2).

As if it wasn't already annoying enough for sports fans to be stuck in a carriage dispute during Week 9 of the NFL season. For those who are unfamiliar with the NFL-only streaming service, the Sunday Ticket gives you access to every regular season out-of-market game. For new customers, a monthly Sunday Ticket subscription costs $85 by itself or $72 when bundled with YouTube TV (for the first three months at least, at which point it jumps up $10 to $82/month).

You can buy the Sunday Ticket standalone through YouTube Primetime Channels without a YouTube TV subscription, but a season-long subscription is pricy at $480 for returning customers (already up $31 from last year, I should add). Or you can save $102 by adding NFL Sunday Ticket to your YouTube TV plan, which brings the price down to $378 for a season-long subscription.

Several subscribers who canceled their YouTube TV plans said that, with the bundle, the two services appeared to be tied together, as they also lost Sunday Ticket access.

"What really annoys me is I already paid for a full season of NFL Sunday Ticket ON YOUR SERVICE but now I have to buy someone else’s service to watch College Football? This isn’t right," wrote podcaster Alex Donno on X. Football reporter Nick Underhill described it as "extortion by everyone involved."

For those who paid for the full season upfront, that would have meant eating the cost outright. That shouldn't be the case, though, as YouTube is pointing subscribers to contact customer support to restore access to Sunday Ticket games if they face any streaming issues after canceling their YouTube TV subscription.

Still, it's got frustrated NFL fans looking for the best live TV services to switch to until YouTube and Disney can settle on a deal. Thankfully, it's pretty easy to watch ESPN without YouTube TV, so you don't have to miss any college football or Monday Night Football games in the meantime. On Friday, YouTube said subscribers could be offered a $20 credit if Disney's networks remain unavailable for "an extended period."

Original story updated at 2:17 p.m. on November 2, 2025, with YouTube's statement

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