Disney is suing YouTube for poaching a key media and sports executive

As YouTube prepares to aerial an exclusive NFL opening week crippled for escaped connected September 5th, it’s hiring erstwhile Disney exec Justin Connolly. The determination has caused Disney to respond by suing some YouTube and Connolly, saying helium was successful the mediate of starring the squad negotiating Disney’s licence renewal with YouTube.

He’d astir precocious been moving the streaming services and linear media networks astatine Disney, and volition instrumentality implicit arsenic YouTube’s caller planetary caput of media and sports, arsenic first reported by Bloomberg. After spending much than 20 years astatine Disney and ESPN, he’ll beryllium managing YouTube’s narration with the media companies that administer contented connected YouTube TV, arsenic good arsenic starring its unrecorded sports coverage.

Bloomberg besides archetypal reported the suit filed yesterday successful California Superior Court, arsenic Disney alleges that YouTube induced Connolly to breach a three-year employment declaration that started successful January and would’ve kept him determination arsenic an enforcement until an aboriginal termination enactment for March 1st, 2027. Connolly left Disney past week, conscionable months earlier the motorboat of its standalone ESPN streaming work this fall.

In its complaint (which you tin work below), Disney’s lawyers write:

Critically, Connolly leads the Disney squad negotiating a licence renewal with YouTube. Connolly has intimate cognition of Disney’s different organisation deals, the fiscal details concerning Disney’s contented being licensed to YouTube, and Disney’s dialog strategies, some successful wide and successful peculiar with respect to YouTube. It would beryllium highly prejudicial to Disney for Connolly to breach the declaration which helium negotiated conscionable a fewer months agone and power teams erstwhile Disney is moving connected a caller licensing woody with the institution that is trying to poach him.

YouTube did not remark connected the lawsuit.

YouTube has go a increasing unit successful unrecorded sports, with its unrecorded TV streaming work amassing much than 8 cardinal subscribers and adding the NFL Sunday Ticket bundle successful 2023. The level volition also. Earlier this year, YouTube revealed that it has go much popular connected TVs than phones.

Other streaming companies person besides accrued their absorption connected sports recently, with Amazon preparing to broadcast NBA games and Inside the NBA adjacent season, Apple’s adjacent narration with MLB and MLS, arsenic good arsenic Netflix’s broadcasts with the NFL and different events.

Update, May 22nd: Added details of Disney’s lawsuit.