ESPN's broadcast of the U.S. Open was interrupted for DirecTV users on Sunday after Disney issued a mid-broadcast blackout across all of its networks. This came after a 2019 agreement expired without a new deal for a licensing agreement between the two companies.
Unsurprisingly, DirecTV and Disney disagree on which company is to blame. “Walt Disney Co. has once again refused to be accountable to consumers, distribution partners and now the American judicial system,” said Rob Thun, chief content officer for DIRECTV, in a statement. statement“They want to continue to pursue maximum profit and dominant control at the expense of consumers, making it difficult for them to select the programs and sports they want at a reasonable price.”
DirecTV's statement also claimed that Disney had ordered at the last minute that it “must agree to waive all claims that Disney's behavior was anti-competitive” in order to proceed with a deal. The provider also criticized Disney for being unpopular with many of DirecTV's customers. It also questioned whether Disney put its “best programming” on, such as The bear and Only murders in the buildingdirectly to streaming services while filling ABC with “cheap primetime game shows, unscripted spin-offs, old ABC hits or simulcast content.”
On the contrary, Disney stated “While we are open to offering DirecTV the flexibility and terms we have extended to other distributors, we will not enter into a deal that undervalues our portfolio of television channels and programming,” said Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, co-chairmen of Disney Entertainment, and Jimmy Pitaro, president of ESPN. “We invest significantly to deliver the number one brands in entertainment, news and sports because that is what our viewers expect and deserve. We urge DirecTV to do what is best for its customers and finalize a deal that immediately restores our programming.”
A similar disagreement occurred last year around the same time. In that case, Disney pulled its channels from Spectrum for 12 days until it reached a new agreement with Charter, Spectrum’s parent company. The deal brought back channels like ABC and ESPN, and Spectrum TV Select and Select Plus subscribers also gained access to the basic Disney+ plan and ESPN+ (for Select Plus users only). In its statement, DirecTV denounced this pattern, saying that “Disney is once again taking an anti-consumer approach.”
