Disney and DirecTV are locked in a carriage dispute, leaving millions of subscribers without access to popular channels like ABC and ESPN as both companies trade accusations.
Bollywood Fever: Disney finds itself embroiled in another significant TV carriage dispute, this time with satellite TV giant DirecTV.
As of this week, a number of Disney-owned channels, including popular networks like ABC and ESPN, have gone dark for millions of DirecTV customers, marking the latest high-stakes standoff between a content provider and a distributor.
The dispute has quickly escalated into a war of words, with both sides blaming each other for the blackout.
Rob Thun, chief content officer at DirecTV, criticized Disney in a strongly worded statement:
“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.”
In response, Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, co-chairmen of Disney Entertainment, along with Jimmy Pitaro, chairman of ESPN, issued their own statement.
They accused DirecTV of denying its subscribers access to content during critical sporting events, including the final week of the U.S. Open and the start of the college football and NFL seasons.
“We’re open to offering DirecTV flexibility and terms which we’ve extended to other distributors, but 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.”
This dispute mirrors a similar clash Disney had with Charter Spectrum last year, which led to a two-week blackout of Disney channels for Charter’s 13 million subscribers.
The conflict was ultimately resolved with a deal that included making Disney+ and ESPN+ available to Charter Spectrum subscribers at no extra cost, while also agreeing to cut some of Disney’s cable channels from the provider’s lineup.
DirecTV, which serves approximately 11 million customers across its satellite TV and streaming services, had hinted at an impending confrontation.
On August 21, DirecTV released an open letter from Thun, advocating for a “brighter TV future” where companies like DirecTV could offer “genre-based” packages tailored around specific content like news, family, and sports.
Thun’s letter did not mention Disney directly but clearly had the current dispute in mind. “Distributors like DirecTV have asked programmers for the flexibility to launch skinnier packages for years. It is high time that we work together to bring that ocean of opportunity to fruition,” Thun wrote.
However, Justin Connolly, Disney’s president of distribution, pushed back against Thun’s claims, telling The Hollywood Reporter that Disney has been open to concessions and flexibility in negotiations.
“They are trying to spin and push this narrative that they want to explore more flexible, skinnier bundles and that we refuse to engage on that, and bottom line: That is blatantly false,” Connolly stated. “We’ve been negotiating with them for weeks, and we proposed a variety of flexible options … but yet they haven’t engaged with us on the options.”
As the standoff continues, millions of DirecTV customers remain without access to Disney’s popular channels, with no clear resolution in sight.
Both companies are holding firm in their positions, leaving viewers caught in the middle of yet another battle over the future of TV distribution.
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