Disney ESPN $50 Million YouTube TV and DirecTV Stream Antitrust Class Action Settlement
By Steve Levine
Published: March 9, 2026
Settlement Amount: $50,000,000
Claim Form: Not available yet — expected later in 2026 after court approval
Proof required: No proof of purchase needed — just your subscription length
Can I File a Claim Right Now?
No. There is no claim form available yet. The lawyers filed a motion asking the court to approve the settlement on March 6, 2026. The court has not ruled on that motion yet. Once the court grants what is called "preliminary approval," a settlement website will be created and a claim form will be posted online. At that point, you will be able to file a claim and eventually receive a cash payment. We do not know the exact date this will happen, but it is expected sometime in 2026. This page will be updated with a direct link to the claim form as soon as it becomes available.Do I Qualify?
You likely qualify if you paid for a YouTube TV subscription or a DirecTV streaming subscription at any point between April 1, 2019 and whenever the court approves this settlement. It does not matter if you canceled. It does not matter how long you were subscribed. If you paid for even one month of either service during that window, you are a potential class member. The DirecTV streaming class includes subscriptions sold under any of the service's names over the years: DirecTV Stream, DirecTV Now, or AT&T TV Now. You may qualify for one or both classes if you subscribed to both services at different times.How Much Money Will I Get?
We do not know the exact payout per person yet. Disney is putting $50 million into the settlement fund. After attorney fees and administration costs are deducted, the remaining money will be divided among everyone who files a valid claim. Your share will be based on how long you were subscribed — people who were subscribed for more months will receive more money. The more people who file claims, the smaller each individual payment will be. YouTube TV alone has over 8 million current subscribers, and the class goes back to 2019, so the eligible pool is very large. Individual payments will likely be modest, but the settlement is non-reversionary, meaning Disney does not get any unclaimed money back.What Do I Need to Do Right Now?
Nothing yet. You do not need to sign up anywhere or file any paperwork right now. When the claim form becomes available, you will need to provide information about how long you were subscribed to YouTube TV or DirecTV Stream. In the meantime, it is a good idea to save any billing statements, confirmation emails, or account screenshots that show when you subscribed and for how long. This will make filing your claim easier when the time comes.What Is This Settlement About?
The Walt Disney Company has agreed to pay $50 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging it violated federal and state antitrust and consumer protection laws by inflating the prices of streaming live pay television services. The settlement covers subscribers to YouTube TV and DirecTV Stream (including the service's earlier names, DirecTV Now and AT&T TV Now) who paid for subscriptions between April 1, 2019 and the date the court grants preliminary approval.Class counsel filed a motion for preliminary approval of the settlement on March 6, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California before Judge Edward J. Davila. The $50 million fund is non-reversionary, meaning any unclaimed money does not go back to Disney. The settlement also includes injunctive relief designed to address the alleged harm to competition in the streaming live TV market.
Disney denies all allegations and any wrongdoing but agreed to settle to avoid the costs and risks of continued litigation.
YouTube TV Class vs. DirecTV Stream Class
There are two separate settlement classes. The YouTube TV Settlement Class covers anyone who purchased a YouTube TV subscription between April 1, 2019 and the date the court grants preliminary approval. The DirecTV Stream Settlement Class covers anyone who purchased a DirecTV streaming live pay TV subscription during the same period, including subscriptions sold under the names DirecTV Stream, DirecTV Now, and AT&T TV Now. You do not need to be a current subscriber — if you subscribed at any point during the class period and later canceled, you are still a potential class member.What Was the Lawsuit About?
The lawsuit alleged that Disney used its ownership of ESPN — the most expensive channel on any streaming or cable TV platform — and its control of Hulu + Live TV to force anticompetitive agreements on every major streaming live TV provider in the United States. These agreements, known as "carriage agreements," allegedly contained two key provisions that allowed Disney to inflate prices across the entire market.First, the agreements allegedly required that ESPN be included in the base (cheapest) package offered by every streaming live TV provider. This meant that no provider could offer a cheaper package without ESPN, even though surveys showed that more than half of subscribers would have preferred to drop ESPN if it meant saving money.
Second, the agreements allegedly contained "Most Favored Nation" (MFN) clauses that prevented any provider from getting a better deal on ESPN than what Disney gave to others. Because Disney also owned Hulu + Live TV — a direct competitor to YouTube TV and DirecTV Stream — Disney could effectively set a price floor for the entire market simply by raising the price of its own product. Competitors had no way to undercut Disney on price because their single largest cost input (ESPN) was controlled by Disney.
The result, according to the lawsuit, was that streaming live TV prices nearly doubled since Disney took control of Hulu in May 2019. YouTube TV's base package went from $35 to $65 per month. DirecTV Stream's base package went from $35 to $70. And during the brief December 2021 dispute when YouTube TV temporarily dropped Disney channels, YouTube TV publicly stated it would offer an ESPN-less package at $15 less per month — direct evidence of how much ESPN was adding to every subscriber's bill.
Why Did YouTube TV Prices Go Up So Much?
When YouTube TV launched in 2017, it cost $35 per month. By 2022, it cost $65. The lawsuit argued this was not the result of normal market forces but of Disney's deliberate strategy to maintain the "ESPN tax" — the mandatory monthly fee every live TV subscriber pays for ESPN whether they watch sports or not.ESPN has historically been the most expensive channel on any TV platform, costing providers $9 or more per subscriber per month as of 2017. For decades, Disney required that ESPN be included in every basic cable package in America, meaning tens of millions of people who never watched ESPN were subsidizing those who did. When cord-cutting caused millions of Americans to cancel cable and satellite TV, Disney lost subscribers and revenue. Rather than compete on price or launch a standalone ESPN streaming product, Disney allegedly used its new ownership of Hulu to recreate the same mandatory ESPN bundling structure on streaming platforms.
The lawsuit documented how Disney negotiated new carriage agreements with each major streaming live TV provider one by one — first DirecTV in 2019, then YouTube TV in 2021, then Sling TV in 2022 — and after each deal, prices went up industry-wide with no meaningful price competition.
What About FuboTV Subscribers?
The original lawsuit covered YouTube TV subscribers. The case was later expanded to include DirecTV Stream subscribers. A separate class involving FuboTV subscribers was also pursued in the litigation. The settlement notice filed June 6, 2025 indicated the deal settles claims on behalf of YouTube TV, DirecTV, and FuboTV subscribers. However, since Disney acquired FuboTV in early 2025 (merging it with Hulu + Live TV), there are additional complexities around the Fubo class, including Disney's attempt to force Fubo subscribers into arbitration. The Fubo class has separate counsel (DiCello Levitt and Lite DePalma). Check back for updates on the Fubo class status.Does This Include Hulu + Live TV Subscribers?
No. Hulu + Live TV is owned and operated by Disney. Because Disney is the defendant in this case, Hulu + Live TV subscribers are not part of the settlement class. The settlement covers subscribers to Disney's competitors — YouTube TV and DirecTV Stream — whose prices were allegedly inflated by Disney's anticompetitive conduct.What Is the Injunctive Relief?
In addition to the $50 million cash fund, Disney has agreed to injunctive relief designed to address the alleged harm to competition in the streaming live TV market. The specific terms of the injunctive relief have not been fully disclosed publicly yet. The motion for preliminary approval indicates the relief is intended to change Disney's practices going forward in the streaming live TV market. More details will be available when the court reviews and rules on the preliminary approval motion.How Did the Case Get Here?
The lawsuit was filed on November 18, 2022 by four YouTube TV subscribers — Heather Biddle of California, Jeffrey Kaplan of Arizona, Zachary Roberts of Indiana, and Joel Wilson of Kentucky — through the law firm Bathaee Dunne LLP. The plaintiffs alleged Disney violated Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act and sought treble damages, attorney fees, and an injunction preventing Disney from enforcing its anticompetitive carriage agreements.Disney moved to dismiss. In 2023, the court dismissed several claims but allowed others to proceed, finding that consumers had adequately alleged Disney's actions could have hobbled competition. Disney continued to fight the case, and the plaintiffs amended their complaint to expand the class to include DirecTV Stream and FuboTV subscribers. The case went through extensive litigation before the parties reached a settlement.
On June 6, 2025, a notice of settlement was filed. On March 6, 2026, class counsel filed the motion for preliminary approval with the $50 million non-reversionary fund.
The October-November 2025 YouTube TV Blackout
While the settlement was being negotiated, Disney and YouTube TV had yet another carriage dispute. On October 30, 2025, Disney channels went dark on YouTube TV after the two sides could not agree on a new carriage deal. The blackout lasted approximately two weeks and cost Disney an estimated $110 million in lost operating profit. YouTube TV offered subscribers a $20 credit during the outage.The companies reached a new multi-year deal on November 15, 2025 that includes access to ESPN Unlimited (Disney's upcoming direct-to-consumer sports product) at no additional cost to YouTube TV base plan subscribers by the end of 2026. The new deal also allows YouTube TV to place selected Disney networks into genre-specific add-on tiers — a significant departure from Disney's historical insistence that all channels be in the base package.
When Will Payments Be Sent?
Payments will not be sent until the court grants both preliminary and final approval of the settlement and any appeals are resolved. The timeline is roughly as follows: the court reviews the motion for preliminary approval (filed March 6, 2026), and if approved, a settlement website and claim form are created, notices are sent to class members, and a deadline is set for filing claims. After the claim deadline passes, the court holds a final approval hearing. If the court grants final approval and no one appeals, payments are distributed. This process typically takes many months. We will update this page with each milestone as it happens.Case Information
Caption: Biddle, et al. v. The Walt Disney Co., Case No. 5:22-cv-07317-EJD
Court: U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
Judge: Honorable Edward J. Davila
Filed: November 18, 2022
Settlement Amount: $50,000,000 (non-reversionary)
Preliminary Approval Motion Filed: March 6, 2026
Plaintiffs: Heather Biddle (CA), Jeffrey Kaplan (AZ), Zachary Roberts (IN), Joel Wilson (KY)
Defendant: The Walt Disney Company
Class Counsel: Bathaee Dunne LLP (New York, NY / Austin, TX)
How Do I Find Class Action Settlements?
Find all the latest class actions you can qualify for by getting notified of new lawsuits as soon as they are open to claims:Official Court Filing (PDF)
Sources
• Law360 — Disney To Pay $50M To End YouTube, DirecTV Stream Claims (March 6, 2026)• MLex — Plaintiffs Seek Preliminary Approval for Antitrust Settlement With Disney (March 6, 2026)
• Variety — YouTube TV and Disney Reach Deal Ending Two-Week Blackout (Nov 2025)
• The Wrap — Disney Sports Division Took $110M Hit From YouTube TV Dispute (Feb 2026)
• Deadline — Disney Hit With Antitrust Suit (Nov 2022)
• Court-authorized complaint, Biddle v. Walt Disney Co., No. 5:22-cv-07317-EJD (N.D. Cal.)
Filing Class Action Settlement Claims
Please note that your claim form will be rejected if you submit a settlement claim with any fraudulent information. By providing this information and your sworn statement of its veracity, you agree to do so under the penalty of perjury. If you are not sure whether you qualify, visit the class action administrator's website. OpenClassActions.com is a consumer advocacy and class action news site, and is not a class action administrator or a law firm.
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Pre-Qualify| Disney ESPN Antitrust Settlement Summary | |
| Status | Pending Preliminary Approval |
|---|---|
| Claim Deadline | TBD — no claim form yet (expected later in 2026) |
| Settlement Amount | $50,000,000 (non-reversionary) |
| Estimated Payment | Pro rata based on subscription length |
| Proof Required | No — just provide how long you were subscribed |
| Who Qualifies | YouTube TV and DirecTV Stream/Now/AT&T TV Now subscribers (April 2019 – present) |
| Class Period | April 1, 2019 – date of preliminary approval |
| Court | N.D. Cal. (Judge Davila) |
| Settlement Website | Not yet created — will be established after court approval |