Rising costs of sports rights fees and other other factors have fueled YouTube's disputes with Disney and other media companies.

The disagreement causing the ESPN and ABC outage stems from the "carriage fee" that YouTube TV pays Disney to broadcast its channels. Disney has faced similar negotiating standoffs with other broadcasters in recent years, including a 2021 outage on YouTubeTV that was resolved in two days.

Disney's networks, like ESPN, still aren't on YouTube TV. Here's what history teaches about how long their carriage dispute could last.

Disney’s channels, including ABC and ESPN, are still missing from YouTube TV. Talks are ongoing, but viewers shouldn’t expect a quick fix.The Latest Tech News, Delivered to Your Inbox

YouTube pulled more than 20 Disney-owned channels including ESPN and ABC right before Halloween after Google and Disney couldn't come to an agreement. At the time, YouTube TV claimed that it ""will not agree to terms that disadvantage our members while benefiting Disney’s own live TV products."

Disney's fight with YouTube TV could hurt the Mouse House in a way it doesn't harm Google. But ESPN is a prize asset.

The platform pulled over 20 Disney-owned channels on October 30, with conflicting reports about credit offers appearing on some subscribers' accounts.

A Disney spokesperson told Deadline the company asked YouTube TV to restore access to ABC for Election Day on Tuesday “so subscribers have access to the information they rely on, adding it would be a “small step for their customers while we continue to work toward a fair agreement.”

Chris Ripley, CEO of TV station giant Sinclair, ripped Disney and YouTube TV's carriage fight for hurting local viewers and breaking antitrust laws.

YouTube TV and ESPN have been in a battle of contract negotiations over the past week, which has caused turmoil for fans and millions of dollars for Google, which owns YouTube TV, and Disney, which owns ESPN. At the end of the day on Oct. 30, the deal between the two media giants expired, causing all of Disney's networks to be taken off YouTube TV.