Disney is again caught in a significant TV carriage dispute, leaving millions of households without access to its channels. This time, the conflict is with satellite TV provider DirecTV, resulting in channels like ABC and ESPN going dark for its customers.
Furthermore, the channels went dark just before the highly anticipated LSU-USC college football game and during the U.S. Open tennis tournament. With the NFL season set to kick off in a week, the timing couldn’t be worse.
Rob Thun, chief content officer at DirecTV, said, “The Walt Disney Co. is once again refusing any accountability to consumers, distribution partners, and now the American judicial system. 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.”
Additionally, Disney’s channels were unavailable for two weeks for Charter Spectrum subscribers due to a high-stakes dispute, a year ago, which Charter portrayed as a battle over the future of pay TV. However, the two companies, in the end, reached an agreement that allowed Charter Spectrum subscribers to access Disney+ and ESPN+ at no additional cost, while Disney agreed to drop some of its cable channels from the provider’s lineup.
Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, co-chairmen of Disney Entertainment, and Jimmy Pitaro, chairman of ESPN put out their own statement, which reads, “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. 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.”