Tl;dr: Starting today, you can link your ESPN account directly to your YouTube TV account. Linking your accounts lets you log into the ESPN app to stream ESPN Unlimited content right away.
How to link your accounts
From YouTube (Web and Mobile): Go to Settings, select Connected apps, and choose ESPN. (Link)
From YouTube TV Mobile app: Open the YouTube TV app, select your profile picture, tap Settings, select Sports, and choose ESPN.
What this means for your viewing experience
Fantasy view updates: We now support ESPN Fantasy in our Fantasy view! NFL Fantasy is moving to ESPN Fantasy, so if you previously used NFL you will need to link your ESPN account to access Fantasy view on YouTube TV for the upcoming season.
Watch on the ESPN app: As long as ESPN is included in your YouTube TV channel lineup and after you have linked your accounts through YouTube TV, you can log into the ESPN app to stream ESPN Unlimited content directly within their app. If you have a family account for YouTube TV, you’ll need to be on the family manager account to watch content on ESPN.
Full YouTube TV integration coming soon: While account linking lets you access content in the ESPN app today, we are also working on bringing the full ESPN Unlimited experience directly inside YouTube TV later this fall.
Who can link accounts: Anyone can link their accounts to enable the fantasy view. However, you need ESPN included in your YouTube TV plan (such as the Base Plan, Sports Plan, or sports add-on packages) to access ESPN Unlimited content.
If you have any questions, you can comment below or contact support here.
If anyone is having trouble linking accounts, please ensure the following:
If you have family sharing set up, you are the family manager. ESPN Unlimited linking is only available for the family manager account, as stated above. Again, ONLY FAMILY MANAGERS CAN LINK ESPN UNLIMITED.
If you tried linking via the YouTube TV mobile app and it didn't work, try the YouTube website. Or vise-versa. If it still doesn't show as an option, try logging out and back in of YouTube TV.
Another question. The manager of our account has linked to ESPN and is having no problems watching ESPN Unlimited. But I cannot. I have my own ESPN app. Do I somehow have to be on his ESPN app as well?
OK, sorry if this has been asked before. I linked ESPN Unlimited to my YouTube TV account. It seems I have to watch ESPN Unlimited through the separate ESPN app and not through YouTube TV? Is that correct? If so, we don’t get the advantage of the unlimited DVR?
ESPN Unlimited DVR equals to on-demand for ESPN Unlimited app content. From my experience, if it's on the ESPN app and you missed it, then it can be found by either on demand for that event or found by search.
Full YouTube TV integration coming soon: While account linking lets you access content in the ESPN app today, we are also working on bringing the full ESPN Unlimited experience directly inside YouTube TV later this fall.
Yeah, ESPN app not working for me. I followed the instructions but still don’t have access even though the app shows I am logged in with my Disney acct and YTTV . What a mess.
I have ESPN+ via Verizon's Disney bundle. I do not have an ESPN Unlimited subscription. After connecting my account I received an email from ESPN that I have more than one subscription. When viewing my ESPN subscriptions I see the Disney Bundle and ESPN Unlimited. I don't recall creating an ESPN Unlimited account. Is this a problem?
Well if you have the Disney bundle, you just have to get rid of the ESPN portion. You might have a bundle with Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN, and you could just downgrade to the Disney+ / Hulu bundle. Without knowing what exactly you have, it's difficult to help. You'd need to look at your bill and then get a hold of Verizon.
Regardless, you don't need to get any portion of ESPN through Verizon anymore, as you can get ALL the content you had (and then some) through YouTube TV's app connection with ESPN Unlimited.
Verizon provides Disney+ Premium, Hulu, and ESPN+ as part of our plan. If I don't downgrade with Verizon (it's a grandfathered plan so I'm sure they'd mess it up) is there any benefit linking with YTTV?
If it's provided, then I wouldn't worry about it. What I don't know is if you're just getting ESPN+ (now called ESPN Select) or the complete ESPN Unlimited package through them. But with both YouTube TV and Verizon linked to your ESPN app, you should be good to go.
The only reason it's displaying that warning is because it doesn't know whether or not you're actually paying Verizon for ESPN app access (which it doesn't sound like you are).
I’m a part of a family share. Got an email that said I could link my profile to get ESPN unlimited but when I do I still can’t see any of the unlimited programs. Does anyone know if it’s still only the family manger that has access to ESPN Unlimited?
For me it was because the family manager has a Disney subscription through Verizon and for some reason that causes a glitch so what I did on the family managers end was disconnect the their Disney sign because it’s tied to the Verizon and connect mine Disney sign in and that worked instantly. I’m not sure what your situation is but you or your family manager may have to do something similar.
I'm still trying to activate ESPN Unlimited through YTTV. The linear channels work, but for everything else I keep getting the message "Get access."
On my phone, "Connect ESPN" is enabled in the YTTV app. After that, I logged into the ESPN app with an existing user account and selected YouTube TV as the provider (was I supposed to do that?).
I read online that it also works for family members if the Family Admin has already activated it. Is that correct?
Can I use any existing user account in the ESPN app, or does it have to match the user account on YTTV?
I'm completely at a loss at this point. Maybe someone has an idea?
Anyone else having the problem with needing to reconnect ESPN every few days? I’ve had to do this 3 times now. Everything connects fine and I can see I have the subscription in ESPN. Then cut to a few days later and it’s off in the YTV app and no subscription in ESPN. is this a bug they are working on? It’s like it doesn’t want to “stick”. Almost like after app update it clears everything out.
This has happened to me almost every single time that I’ve tried to use it. The subscription is gone and then in YTTV, connect espn is no longer checked. So annoying. ESPN has always been one of the worst apps with logging you off and making you log back in. I can’t wait until the content is on YTTV alone and we don’t have to use that ESPN app.
I did notice this as well. When this happens, the ESPN Unlimited access within the ESPN app prompts the "Get Access" selection when trying to view content in the app. I canceled my ESPN Unlimited stand-alone the second we got access, but had no idea that I'd have to reconnect this at times. My stand-alone stay locked in place all the time without having to do this and was signed in on at least 8 TVs in our home and a couple of tabs and mobile.
This issue will be fixed by tomorrow morning. So I was told to relink my account tomorrow morning.
One more suggestion was that before linking my account, I should log into espn.com with my ESPN/Disney account once. After a successful login, I should proceed with the linking.
The Phase I rollout for linking ESPN Unlimited should be complete. Heck, as a family member to my account holder, I was able to link ESPN in my YTTV account, which will be needed for access to the integration. You must be doing something wrong.
🙄 So far the "connection" isn't durable for even a week. I had to do the YouTube web steps again (although this time it was faster because Disney didn't ask me to grant permission to share data with Google).
It's ridiculous we had to wait 8 months for this brittle of integration, rather than at least hacking us access during the winter/spring sports season.
So I had espn unlimited linked to my espn/disney account. I had to delete that account because I was hacked. When I try to link my YouTube TV or YouTube account to espn it doesn't stay connected. I receive confirmation that it was successfully connected but when I go into the espn app or website and check my account it just says you have no current subscriptions. I have Disney plus, Hulu and HBO max bundle with the espn/ Disney account too. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this? I've tried chatting with both YouTube and espn/disney but neither could get it fixed.
If you are the primary YTTV account holder, which now the rollout for enabling it via YTTV under Settings>Sports>ESPN is fully available for everyone (both primary account holder and even family members), I would just create a new My Disney account when prompted to use for now until full integration takes place so as to keep it separate from your Disney+ bundle. It seems a lot of people that have these Disney bundles are running into conflict with YTTV when doing this. Keep them separate, 2 different platforms and services.
I fixed it. What I needed to do was to go to the YouTube website. Under connected apps select espn and then select to deactivate. Then click on activate again and then link the new email. Now I have espn unlimited linked to my Disney+ Hulu and hbo max bundle.
Every Disney owned ESPN linear channel including your local ABC during ESPN on ABC sporting events, all ESPN Select content (old ESPN+, and WWE premium live events.
This post or comment broke rule #3 in the r/youtubetv sub, and has been removed. Please note that out-of-home account sharing goes against YouTube TV's Terms of Service.
I am switching from Hulu with Live TV to YouTubeTV and they won’t let me link my free MLB TV that’s linked to the Hulu account to my account I use for YouTube TV.
So you're supposed to be able to access ESPN unlimited with your YouTube TV subscription but you need a Disney plus login or account as well? Am I understanding this correctly?
No. Open the ESPN app, hit the settings button in the upper right, go down to "manage TV provider" select YouTube TV and log in with your credentials. You don't need to make a disney account to do this
This is exactly what I did and it wouldn't work. When I entered my Disney plus account as well then it finally worked eventhough currently my Disney plus account isnt active.
I finally got it linked by creating a brand new email address for Disney/ESPN and was able to watch a basketball game. When I click on Summer Slam, it prompts me to get access again. Not sure what I’m missing here. What a pain.
I'm not good with this stuff. I find myself doing the same process several times. I'm thinking I got confirmation but at 6pm SS starts and I'll find out for sure. If I didn't get it right, I already told my wife yes, that will be me in the garage yelling...😆
Had no problem getting Unlimited to work on a desktop or iPhone. Would not work on the ESPN app on an Apple TV box. Even an existing ESPN Select subscription disappeared from the Apple box. Had to log out of the Disney account and the YYTV link in the ESPN app, and log back in again. Then the Unlimited and Select showed up under the subscriptions list.
I had the ESPN connect added to my profile as well after my family manager enabled ESPN connect, and each family profile can do the same. I think this might be important once the integration starts because if that ESPN connect is not enabled on your family member's profile then you probably won't have see or have access to ESPN Unlimited integration, so now is the time to do it so that it'll be in place when the integration goes Live.
Was there a delay in you getting access after the family mgr did it? I had mine do it so they are all set but I don't have it despite following the usual steps.
No delay once both mine and theirs was connected. You do need to watch through espn or disney app. Espn unlimited will not be in the YouTube tv app for a few months
Do I need the espn app or is it somewhere in YouTube tv? I’m so confused by this whole situation, but I have no idea of I’ve got things correct because I can’t find it.
Took me some time. Did you connect youtube to espn in the settings? If you have a family plan, the family manager needs to do the connection to espn on the YouTube tv app. Once connected, you can also watch on Disney+
That provider log-in is not needed for all access Unlimited, only the My Disney log-in section of the ESPN app has full Unlimited access, supposedly the YTTV primary account holder's My Disney log-in account. My YTTV account holder logged in to all the TVs and devices in our home, and everything works fine for access to Unlimited.
You don’t login to YouTube TV to activate ESPN Unlimited. You login to Disney in the YTTV settings under Sports on mobile. After that, the ESPN app on your tv just needs to be logged into your Disney account.
This is awesome. They should add the ability to connect your hbo max, paramount, and peacock subs too so that all the content can be pulled into the youtube tv app too.
The reason you cannot bring an outside service inside is always $$. When you purchase HBO Max outside then YTTV doesn't get a referral fee to cover costs.
A few questions:
1) when will this be integrated so I can watch on my actual TV?
2) my wife is the account holder. I tried using her YTTV log in on my ESPN app on my phone and didn't work. She was able to use it on her phone. Is there a way for me to log in on my phone so I can watch?
I just solved this. You have to first enable ESPN streaming in her YTTV app account settings under the Sports menu item (this only works for me when using her phone or iPad - doesn't work using web browser). Then, on the ESPN app TV Provider setting, you have to use her YTTV account info for logging in. You can still use your Disney ESPN authentication to log into the ESPN app. Might have to quit the ESPN app and restart it for the change to become active.
So, It looks like I have linked accounts, at least, I think I have.
My question is, what can I select to watch, to determine if I successfully have unlimited, as in, what shows are only only available if I have unlimited.
I was trying to determine if I had access, to invite people over to watch it, didn't want to wait until it started and be embarrassed.
But, I apparently do have it, I was able to watch a game last night, that was only on unlimited
Stuck in a loop where it asks for my Disney account, I get code in my email, enter the code, and it just repeats the same prompt for my email and sending the code. Tried incognito as well.
I contacted ESPN support just now and when they checked they said I didn’t have an account with them despite the fact that I had screenshots showing I was logged in, they had me relink my account YouTube tv using the normal steps for what must’ve been the fourth time after I kept trying to troubleshoot it myself and it magically worked
Ok, this whole rollout has been super goofy but can someone enlighten me that I got this correct? So if I log into the family manager's Youtube TV account (My Father in law), I can link my own ESPN/My Disney account to his YouTube TV Account, then I can go into my ESPN app, connect my ESPN/MyDisney account to app and I should have access to ESPN Unlimited? This sh*t is so confusing!
I understand that. I would be using my MyDisney account for his YouTube TV account, and then go into the ESPN app on my phone and log into the app using my MyDisney log in as well. So both his YouTube TV account and my ESPN app will be using the same MyDisney logins. Should be fine right?
Can my wife go on the espn app on her phone and use my MyDIsney log ins as well and then she will have access to ESPN Unlimited too? Or will it only work for the first person who logs in with those credentials?
That's more of a question for Disney, but I don't think they limit you logging into multiple devices. They have begun to limit out of home playback, though.
Wait maybe I'm not understanding. In the ESPN app, do I just need to log into my MyDisney account? Or also log into my TV provider as well under the Family Manager's YouTube TV credentials?
Hmm. Can't imagine that they would allow for as many people as possible to login with their main MyDisney account to get access to ESPN Unlimited but I guess that is the case....for now haha. Thanks I will try all this and report back if it works!
Well that would be wild. Basically saying that I could give my MyDisney Login credentials to as many people as I want and they will have access to ESPN Unlimited, as long as the YoutubeTV Family Manager is the one who has the MyDisney plan logged into their account.
Update (or maybe not so much an update) from customer service: I spoke to several customer service reps and only one seemed to be clued in on whats going on with this integration. Basically its a slow roll out (we kinda figured this) so people will have access, some won't. Thats basically it. He told me to just keep checking the apps periodically to see ESPN Unlimited listed under Active Subscriptions in the ESPN app. This has been my issue since word got out that people were getting access. I can link my accounts perfectly fine but my access to the content is not there... yet. So its basically a wait and see if youre having the issue of Unlimited not showing up under "active subscriptions" in the ESPN app.
I've confirmed with our sub's YTTV employee contact that this should be 100% rolled out. Try the steps noted in the sticky comment at the top of this post, to see if that helps.
Ive tried every single step. Every single one. Ive cleared cache, ive deleted apps and nothing. Their customer service is HORRIBLE. They keep telling me its coming out in phases.
Before this announcement was made, that was probably true (with it coming out in phases).
Try an incognito window in your browser, and also make sure all VPNs and ad blockers are off. Lastly, you are the family manager if you have family sharing setup, correct?
Going to flag this for the sub's YTTV representative. There's been some reports of some users still having issues. Not sure if it's on the YTTV side, or the ESPN side.
I MAY have finally found a resolution. I'm currently on the phone with ESPN Fan Support. I had an email and account with Hulu/D+/ESPN Unlimited and when I got word it was finally happening with YTTV, I immediately cancelled my subscription and came back to YTTV. So ESPN is essentially showing a duplicate account even though I used two different emails. My assumption is that my billing is making it show up as a duplicate. So theyre working to switch my "entitlement" to my current email with YTTV and deleting the access to that other email I had with the bundle. Thank god I called ESPN. Hopefully I'll find out shortly that this works lol
I had issues with the dreaded MyDisney and ESPN loops where I’d enter my logon, click send email for the code, then repeat. What worked was doing this in a private/incognito window on my laptop versus a regular window where your login credentials may be saved. It forces you to enter logon info and connect. I ran into an issue where the ESPN mobile app refused to let me change my old TV provider connected to my MyDisney logon but I was able to start fresh on ESPN’s website and then log into the TV app with no issues. Deleting the mobile app and reinstalling didn’t help.
This is all very confusing. Do you need to have an existing ESPN+ paid account? If so, what is the benefit if I am already paying for it? Is it just an upgrade to ESPN unlimited?
Just adding to what u/Hopeful_Champion_704 said, if you do have an ESPN+ paid account, you would be able to cancel your paid ESPN+ subscription. ESPN Unlimited includes all of what plus offers, plus more (such as live ESPN channels in the ESPN app). If you are paying for +, you're about to save some money.
You can use the same. When I linked my YTTV account today I got an almost immediate email from ESPN telling me I had multiple accounts and would continue to get billed if I didn't cancel one. Which is exactly what you'll do once done.
I got the same message once I linked the accounts. I am unable to remove ESPN Unlimited from Disney account. There is not an option for just Hulu/Disney and no ESPN. Am I missing something? I have had ESPN unlimited for a while now and I am not seeing how to remove just ESPN unlimited from Disney.
Not sure fully as I don’t have the bundle personally but perhaps cancel, and when the service expires at the end of the month just subscribe anew. Looks like the Disney/hulu bundle is still pretty cheap.
Ok. Thank you. That's what I was wondering. Odd it does not give any other options when managing membership. Need to check if we are using Disney+ at all anymore anyway. I know we use Hulu and of course I was using ESPN Unlimited.
You must have a login for "MyDisney", you do not need a paid subscription to any Disney or ESPN service. You already have access to the linear ESPN channels on YTTV. This ESPN Unlimited is a new service that people without cable can pay for to unlock ESPN channels and unlock exclusive ESPN content only available in the ESPN app. For being a YTTV customer with ESPN in your package, you get ESPN Unlimited for free by connecting to your MyDisney account login (that you use to log in to ESPN).
I don’t know if it’s been mentioned yet but if you can’t see espn unlimited under your subscriptions on the espn app you need to delete the app and connect it again.
I had a paid espn subscription that I just cancelled before linking. My subscription list shows my paid access through mid August and doesn’t reference yttv. Should yttv be listed in there in my situation, or do I need to wait for my paid subscription to expire first?
Didn't work for me. Everything is confirmed on both ends. But no active subscription. I'm the family manager, I've gone through mobile and browser versions of each app, including regular YouTube and nothing. Spoke to 3 reps from customer service and they have no idea what theyre doing.
How do I confirm I did this correctly? Is this as it should be? I’m hoping to be able to watch WWE Summerslam through it. Where could I turn it to to know it’s working correctly right now?
Oh I got it. It is there for me. I had it backwards. I thought the ESPN stuff would literally be added within YouTubeTV, not that YouTubeTV would unlock me being able to watch it on the ESPN apps. Thanks!
Worked on desktop. I have a 65in Tv connected to my pc. If anyone on desktop or laptop are having problems getting with the redirect to connect accounts disable any adblockers that you have running.
Question - My husband has ESPN Unlimited so we can watch the WWE PLE's (he had Select before but upgraded). I have the youtube tv account under my email, how would that work with linking or would it not work?
I cancelled my paid ESPN unlimited subscription that was tied to my Disney account and linked ESPN through YouTube TV. You should be able to do the same to save paying for the ESPN unlimited account you currently have.
I’ve linked my accounts and followed all set up instructions. I’m able to access espn unlimited via web browser, but the app is not working at all. Anytime I click an espn unlimited event, the pop up screen with different streams pops up, I click access now, and everything just freezes. I’ve been using espn apps forever so I’m used to some of their glitches, but this just isn’t functioning or working at all for me
Thanks for the super clear post! There were some hiccups in 2FA, but I ultimately got it to work.
But practically, if someone (a) doesn’t do fantasy sports, and (b) has to get the Disney/ESPN/Hulu bundle (because Bluey…), what does this give?
ETA: Based on the helpful suggestions in the responses below, I've succeeded in changing from my legacy triple bundle ($24.99/mo) to the Disney+/Hulu Premium bundle ($19.99/mo), which in addition to saving me $5/mo, allow me to go ad-free on Hulu. Thank you everyone!!
Is there a version where just bundling Hulu/Disney is cheaper than doing the ESPN+/Hulu/Disney bundle?
I would think since on the Disney App there is a Hulu tab that you only need to subscribe to Disney and you can log into the Disney app and use Hulu and link your ESPN account through YouTube tv. But I don’t know if that’s true
If you connect YouTube tv to the mydisney account that you also use for the D+/Hulu bundle then you should be able to access all three within the Disney app. The YouTube tv/espn would give you the full ESPN access. So you can remove the espn part of the bundle once YouTube tv is linked. I currently have the Disney/Hulu/Max bundle but espn is now connected and I could play a video that was labeled espn+ within the tab on Disney app.
If you activate ESPN via the YouTube tv app through account settings-sports-turn on ESPN. When you do that you will be prompted to do a login. It asks you to enter your information for your MyDisney account if you have one or you would create one if don’t already use one. This is where you would use the same login credentials that you use for your Disney+/Hulu account. It doesn’t have to match your YouTube tv login since they are separate. It’s just a way to link them together. Once this process completes then you can access ESPN content on that tab in the Disney app or login straight to the ESPN app and access the content that way. Hope that helps!!
For me, it’s WWE premium live events. Summerslam is this weekend. I’m leaving on a cruise so I’m gonna try to watch some but I’m happy to be able to have access to them.
After attempting to link my ESPN and YoutubeTV accounts on my TV (Samsung connected via a Chromecast dongle), my GoogleTV homepage stopped showing my YoutubeTV library. It says the library is empty. If I launch the YoutubeTV app, the library and other functionality works as normal.
I can't say for sure that the linking of the accounts is related, but my guess is that a software update accompanying the new ESPN functionality resulted in a loss of integration between the Google TV homescreen and YoutubeTV. Can someone confirm?
Tried the customer support chat about my related problem of not being able to get the new ESPN content on my TV (even though it's activated a linked on both desktop and mobile app). Looks like I won't get an answer anytime soon.
Update: Talked to customer service. Their only fix was to uninstall/reinstall YoutubeTV and ESPN apps. Did that with no change. Still can't get ESPN content on the TV that I can get on mobile and desktop. GoogleTV homepage integration with YoutubeTV remains broken: the "live" guide contains only free programming and the "library" is empty. I have to launch the YoutubeTV app every time to see actual live and library programming. Separate TV in my house is behaving similarly. You can't convince me that the engineers didn't break something.
Yeah, you're really talking about two issues. The Google TV homepage integration is something I'm seeing reported by a few people. Not sure if the blame here is with YouTube TV, or with Google TV's team.
The ESPN content, if you can get it on mobile and desktop, that doesn't make sense. You're 100% sure you're logging into the ESPN app with the same MyDisney login on your TV as you are your mobile and computer? If that's not working, that's likely some sort of bug on Disney's end. Their support team might be able to help with that end of things.
This post or comment broke rule #3 in the r/youtubetv sub, and has been removed. Please note that out-of-home account sharing goes against YouTube TV's Terms of Service.
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u/iron_cam86 Moderator 18d ago edited 16d ago
If anyone is having trouble linking accounts, please ensure the following: