Networks owned by The Walt Disney Co. went to black on DirecTV just after 7:00 p.m. ET on Sunday as negotiations apparently failed to reach a new carriage agreement. The two sides had extended the deadline of 5 p.m. as conversations continued.
The blackout comes during the first full weekend of college football and days before the start of the NFL season.
DirecTV said that Disney insisted that the satellite TV provider buy other Disney channels and services in order to continue to show sports programming on networks like ESPN.
DirecTV also said any licensing agreement would be contingent on DirecTV waiving future challenges to Disney on antitrust grounds. Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery have been enjoined by a U.S. court from enabling their streaming joint venture Venu from offering only the sports networks to subscribers while preventing other distributors from doing so.
“The Walt Disney Co. is once again refusing any accountability to consumers, distribution partners, and now the American judicial system,” Rob Thun, chief content officer at DirecTV, said. “Disney is in the business of creating alternate realities, but this is the real world where we believe you earn your way and must answer for your own actions. They want to continue to chase maximum profits and dominant control at the expense of consumers — making it harder for them to select the shows and sports they want at a reasonable price.”
Disney blamed DirecTV for the breakdown.
“DirecTV chose to deny millions of subscribers access to our content just as we head into the final week of the U.S. Open and gear up for college football and the opening of the NFL season. While we’re open to offering DirecTV flexibility and terms which we’ve extended to other distributors, we will not enter into an agreement that undervalues our portfolio of television channels and programs,” ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said. “We invest significantly to deliver the No. 1 brands in entertainment, news and sports because that’s what our viewers expect and deserve. We urge DirecTV to do what’s in the best interest of their customers and finalize a deal that would immediately restore our programming.”
DirecTV noted that Disney's actions mirrored changes in the industry, with the best programming, including sports shifting to streaming.
“Consumer frustration is at an all-time high as Disney shifts its best producers, most innovative shows, top teams, conferences, and entire leagues to their direct-to-consumer services while making customers pay more than once for the same programming on multiple Disney platforms,” Thun added. “Disney’s only magic is forcing prices to go up while simultaneously making its content disappear.”
The dispute went public Saturday as both companies began airing messages warning that a blackout was imminent.
Disney's message warned DirecTV and DirecTV Stream customers they could "lose the ESPN networks" and said they should go to KeepMyESPN.com to learn more.
DirecTV's urged viewers to go to its website TVPromise.com to get more information.
Disney agreed to modify how some of its channels are packaged in the agreement ending last year’s blackout with Charter Communications. Charter customers also got some Disney streaming services for free as part of their pay TV subscriptions.
