ESPN, ABC and other Disney TV networks are coming back to YouTube TV.

Google and Disney finally ended their standoff, announcing a multiyear agreement Friday on pricing and terms for a renewed carriage deal for YouTube TV. Disney’s nets went dark on the internet TV service just before midnight ET on Thursday, Oct. 30, after the two sides remained far apart on a deal before the expiration of the previous contract.

Under the new agreement, ESPN’s full lineup of sports — including content from ESPN Unlimited — will be made available on YouTube TV to base-plan subscribers at no additional cost by the end of 2026. In addition, access to a selection of live and on-demand programming from ESPN Unlimited will be available inside YouTube TV.

The deal also lets YouTube include the Disney+ and Hulu bundle as part of “select YouTube offerings.” According to Disney, “select networks” will be included in various genre-specific packages that YouTube TV expects to launch in the future.

“This new agreement reflects our continued commitment to delivering exceptional entertainment and evolving with how audiences choose to watch,’’ Disney Entertainment co-chairmen Alan Bergman and Dana Walden and ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a joint statement. “It recognizes the tremendous value of Disney’s programming and provides YouTube TV subscribers with more flexibility and choice. We are pleased that our networks have been restored in time for fans to enjoy the many great programming options this weekend, including college football.”

In a statement, a YouTube spokesperson said Friday, “We’re happy to share that we’ve reached an agreement with Disney that preserves the value of our service for our subscribers and future flexibility in our offers. Subscribers should see channels including ABC, ESPN and FX returning to their service over the course of the day, as well as any recordings that were previously in their Library. We apologize for the disruption and appreciate our subscribers’ patience as we negotiated on their behalf. ”

The deal supersedes their prior distribution agreement, inked in December 2021 after a two-day blackout.

On Sunday (Nov. 9) YouTube began issuing one-time $20 credits to YouTube TV customers for the loss of Disney’s programming, in the hopes it would help stave off user cancelations.

Many YouTube TV subscribers dropped the service in frustration. According to a survey fielded last week, 24% of YouTube TV users said they had canceled or intended to cancel their accounts over the Disney blackout. A YouTube rep said that “while subscriber churn is always regrettable, it’s been manageable and does not align with the findings of this survey.” Disney took a hit, too, losing more than $4 million per day during the blackout, according to an estimate by Morgan Stanley analysts.

Google had said Disney was asking for an unprecedented fee increase for the full suite of ESPN channels, ABC local stations, FX, Disney Channel, Freeform, Nat Geo and more — while Disney claimed the tech giant was “refusing to pay fair rates for our channels.” According to Google, Disney was trying to “reset” the market pricing for its programming (so it could charge similarly higher rates in upcoming renewals with other pay-TV distributors) and that Disney was insisting YouTube TV take the Mouse House’s full lineup of networks. The negotiating teams were led by Disney Platform Distribution EVP Sean Breen and YouTube chief business officer Mary Ellen Coe.

The removal of Disney’s networks from YouTube TV came a day before a busy Nov. 1 Saturday slate for college football as major marquee teams face pivotal contests, many of them aired on ESPN and ABC. In light of the blackout, ESPN made its “College GameDay” football pregame show available free to watch via a livestream on X. YouTube TV customers also missed two airings of “Monday Night Football” on ABC and ESPN. (YouTube pointed out to users they could catch all of ESPN’s programming on the ESPN Unlimited subscription service.)

Along with Disney’s live channels, YouTube TV customers’ DVR recordings of the media conglomerate’s programming were removed, as is standard in such disputes. With the deal renewal, YouTube TV subscribers will regain access to recordings that were previously in their library, according to YouTube.

On Thursday, Disney CEO Bob Iger told analysts that the company had been “working tirelessly to close this deal” but said, “It’s also imperative that we make sure that we agree to a deal that reflects the value that we deliver, which both YouTube, by the way, and Alphabet, have told us, is greater than the value of any other provider.”

Disney Entertainment’s Walden and Bergman and ESPN’s Pitaro had previously addressed the impasse in several memos to staffers. “YouTube TV and its owner, Google, are not interested in achieving a fair deal with us,” the execs wrote in an Oct. 31 email. “Instead, they want to use their power and extraordinary resources to eliminate competition and devalue the very content that helped them build their service.”

Meanwhile, ahead of this year’s Election Night (Nov. 4), Disney asked Google to restore ABC on YouTube TV for one day to serve the “public interest.” Google declined — and instead suggested that Disney allow YouTube TV to make ABC and ESPN available while the two sides continued talks because those are “the channels that people want.” Disney didn’t go for the idea.

The Disney-Google clash became public Oct. 23, when Disney began alerting viewers that its networks could be removed from YouTube TV.

Disney has faced other tough negotiations with distributors amid the transition to ESPN Unlimited — the standalone streaming service launched in August that includes everything on the sports programmer’s lineup — and its continued investment in Disney+ and Hulu.

In 2023, Disney’s networks had a 10-day blackout on Charter Communications cable systems in a similar fight over price. To settle the Charter deal, Disney allowed Charter’s high-tier TV subscribers to access Disney+ and the ESPN+ streaming app. In 2024, ESPN and other Disney nets went dark on DirecTV for nearly two weeks before they reached a new deal. In October, Disney and Comcast quietly reached a carriage renewal deal.

Google has encountered no small amount of friction in deal-renewal talks this year for YouTube TV. Other programmers that have fought with the internet company include Paramount Global (now Paramount Skydance), Fox Corp. and NBCUniversal — each of which reached a new deal without a blackout. At the end of September, YouTube TV dropped Univision, with Google alleging the price increases sought by parent company TelevisaUnivision were drastically out of line with viewership on the platform.

YouTube TV is the biggest internet-TV service in the U.S., estimated to have more than 10 million subscribers. Next is Disney, which last week closed a deal to merge its Hulu + Live TV business with Fubo; together, those have almost 6 million subs in North America. Google had asserted Disney’s hardball tactics over a YouTube TV deal was “benefiting their own live TV products, including Hulu + Live TV and Fubo.”

A Brazilian bodybuilder who had more than 200,000 followers on Instagram died this week after falling from her high-rise apartment in Rio de Janeiro, according to reports.

Diana Areas, 39, was found dead outside the Unique Towers condominium building Thursday, according to the New York Post and People magazine, citing local news outlets.

Before her fall, Areas had been admitted to a hospital after authorities were called to her home and found her with cuts on her body.

The 39-year-old reportedly left the hospital without being discharged.

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Authorities haven’t given any more details on the circumstances surrounding her death.

Her followers took to her Instagram after learning the news to express their grief.

“My Godddd !!! Speechless !!!” one person wrote in an English translation. “What a difficult time !!! Unbelievable !!!”

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Another wrote, “Today our profession loses a great nutritionist. A woman who left a mark on the lives of many through the care, knowledge and affection with which she did her work. May God comfort the family and all who lived with her. Your dedication will continue to inspire those who pursue the same purpose.”

A third said, “Lord…. such sad news … so beautiful, young woman, may God receive her with open arms.”

In late September, Areas shared several photos from a recent trip with a significant other, writing, “We live and go through a lot together, as a couple. And you know what’s better? We choose each other every day! Our love doesn’t need a showcase, but these special photos couldn’t just stay in the gallery.”

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Just a week ago, Areas was advertising something called the REV 90 and Summer Challenge.

“Don’t miss out on the chance to transform your body and your health — limited spots available!” she posted at the time.

Palestinians call for better tents and other supplies as Israel maintains restrictions on aid to war-ravaged Gaza Strip.

Displaced Palestinians are reeling after heavy rains flooded their tents in makeshift displacement camps in Gaza City, as the United Nations warns that Israeli restrictions on aid have left hundreds of thousands of families without adequate shelter.

Abdulrahman Asaliyah, a displaced Palestinian man, told Al Jazeera on Friday that residents’ mattresses, clothes and other belongings were soaked in the flooding.

“We are calling for help, for new tents that can at least protect people from the winter cold,” he said, explaining that nearly two dozen people had been working for hours to get the water to drain from the area.

“This winter rain is a blessing from God, but there are families who no longer wish for it to fall, fearing for the lives of their children and their own survival,” Asaliyah said.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Friday’s flooding primarily affected Palestinians in the north of the Strip, where hundreds of thousands of people have returned following last month’s ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

Flooding was also reported in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah, said the rescue agency, which urged the international community to do more to “address the suffering” of Palestinians whose homes were destroyed in Israel’s two-year war on the enclave.

“We urge the swift delivery of homes, caravans, and tents to these displaced families to help alleviate their suffering, especially as we are at the beginning of winter,” it said in a statement.

While the October 10 ceasefire has allowed more aid to get into the Gaza Strip, the UN and other humanitarian groups say Palestinians still lack adequate food, medicine and other critical supplies, including shelter.

Aid groups working to provide shelter assistance in the occupied Palestinian territory said in early November that about 260,000 Palestinian families, totalling almost 1.5 million people, were vulnerable as the cold winter months approached.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said this week that it has enough shelter supplies to help as many as 1.3 million Palestinians.

But UNRWA said Israel continues to block its efforts to bring aid into Gaza despite the ceasefire deal, which stipulated that humanitarian assistance must be delivered to Palestinians in need.

“We have a very short chance to protect families from the winter rains and cold,” Angelita Caredda, Middle East and North Africa director at the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), said in a statement on November 5.

Reporting from Deir el-Balah on Friday, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said Palestinians across Gaza have been voicing fears that this winter would be particularly difficult due to the lack of safe shelter.

“It only rained for a couple of minutes – 30 minutes or so … [and] they were completely flooded,” she said. “Their tents are very fragile and worn-out; they have been using them for the past two years.”

She added that most Palestinians do not have any other options but to remain in tent camps or overcrowded shelters, despite the difficulties.

“We’re already seeing Palestinian children walking barefoot. They do not have winter clothes. They do not have blankets. And at the same time, the aid that is coming in … is being restricted,” Khoudary said.

Back in Gaza City, another displaced Palestinian man affected by the heavy rains, Abu Ghassan, said he and his family “no longer have a normal life”.

“I’m lifting the mattresses so the children don’t get soaked,” he told Al Jazeera. “But the little ones were already drenched here. We don’t even have proper tents.”