It seems like every year or every other year, there is a carriage dispute right before the college football and NFL season, and now we have another one as DirecTV and Disney have a major dispute that hurts the fans.
Several ABC stations, ESPN, and other networks were suddenly removed from DirecTV’s lineup on Sunday, leaving an estimated 11 million subscribers in the dark and denying them access to the U.S. Open, college football, and NFL games.
The cable TV provider failed to reach a new carriage agreement with Disney, and there are no signs of any immediate resolution as we approach NFL Sunday for Week 1
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ESPN, Disney, ABC stations, and streaming services, including Hulu, were pulled on a busy night for sports events.
Fourth-round matches were underway at the U.S. Open when ESPN’s broadcast went off the air on DirecTV.
The blackout also happened mere minutes before the start of the football game between No. 13 Louisiana State University and No. 23 University of Southern California.
DirecTV’s inability to provide these services is huge since it is the nation’s third-largest pay-TV provider.
Due to the carriage dispute, fans missed LSU vs. USC and couldn’t watch the Florida State Seminoles take on Boston College on Monday night.
Here is What The DirecTV-Disney Dispute Is About
DirecTV and Disney have reached a stalemate as ESPN, Disney Channel, FX, and several other networks and channels went dark Sunday night.
As fans, we have been here before. It just happened last year.
The two companies have been negotiating a new contract to keep Disney’s content on DirecTV’s satellite and streaming services as their five-year contract ended on September 1st.
On Sunday night, Disney stated, “We will not enter into an agreement that undervalues our portfolio of television channels and programs.”
CNet reported that part of the dispute between DirecTV and Disney could be related to a class-action antitrust lawsuit against Disney.
Further on in the statement, DirecTV noted its objection to agree to “waive all claims that Disney’s behavior is anti-competitive” in any agreements and warned against Disney’s “last-minute demands to foreclose upon any legal accountability for its growing pattern of anti-competitive actions.”
In these carriage disputes, only the viewers lose. We not only get fewer channels to watch, but we all know that our bills will not go down as a result.
