Disney settled the lawsuit, which alleges the company drove price spikes for streaming services through anti-competitive carriage agreements.
If you cut the cable cord only to watch your live streaming bill climb year after year, you may be owed some money back — but you have to act fast.
Consumers have until Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, to submit a claim in a massive $50 million antitrust class-action settlement involving The Walt Disney Co. The lawsuit, Biddle v. Disney, alleged that Disney used its industry leverage to stifle price competition, forcing popular live streaming television services to jack up their monthly subscription rates.
While Disney has denied all allegations and admitted no wrongdoing, it agreed to pay $50 million to resolve claims brought by subscribers nationwide.
Here is everything you need to know about who qualifies, what the lawsuit was about, and how to file your claim before the midnight deadline.
Who is eligible
The settlement applies to anyone who paid for an eligible live TV streaming subscription through YouTube TV or DirecTV Stream (including prior iterations such as DirecTV Now and AT&T TV Now) at any point between April 1, 2019, and March 31, 2026.
Even if you canceled your subscription years ago or only subscribed for a few months during football season, you are still eligible to submit a claim for the period you paid.
What the lawsuit was about
When live streaming services first hit the market, they promised to break the traditional, expensive “cable bundle.” Consumers could buy lean, flexible channel lineups, known in the industry as “skinny bundles,” for about $35 to $40 a month.
However, over the subsequent years, base prices surged past $70 to $80 across major providers.
The class-action complaint alleged that Disney drove these price spikes through anti-competitive carriage agreements.
Because live sports are essential to pay-TV packages, the lawsuit alleged Disney used ESPN as leverage. The lawsuit claimed Disney refused to let distributors carry ESPN unless they also bought Disney’s entire channel portfolio (including the Disney Channel, Freeform, and secondary sports networks) and forced all subscribers into higher-cost base tiers.
By requiring all Disney channels in standard packages, the lawsuit alleges competitors were effectively blocked from offering cheaper, sports-free tiers for consumers who did not watch live sports.
Because Disney directly owns and operates competing service Hulu + Live TV, plaintiffs claimed Disney enforced contractual clauses that prevented YouTube TV and DirecTV from undercutting Hulu on price, creating an artificial price floor across the entire streaming industry.
How much would you get?
Individual payout amounts have not been set because payments will be distributed on a pro-rata basis.
The final amount you receive will depend on two main factors: how many months you were subscribed between April 1, 2019, and March 31, 2026, and how many people submit a claim.
Subscribers who held active accounts for several consecutive years will receive a proportionally larger share of the net settlement fund than short-term users. Claimants who live in so-called “repealer jurisdictions” like Colorado, Florida, New York and California receive 90% of the settlement, while claimants in the remaining states would get 10%.
How to file a claim
People in the impacted class should have received an e-mail or postcard with a Unique ID and PIN. Those can be entered at the claims portal website.
If you didn’t receive a postcard or email, don’t have a Unique ID or password, but were still subscribers during the period in question, head to that website and complete an online form using the email and billing address you used when you signed up for the service.
All claims are due by Sept. 8, 2026. If you are mailing a paper claim form, it must be postmarked by Sept. 8.
