Millions of DirecTV customers could miss the start of ESPN's “Monday Night Football,” a highly anticipated game between the San Francisco 49ers and New York Jets, as the Walt Disney Co. channel's blackout extended into its ninth day on Monday.
DirecTV and U-Verse customers have grown increasingly frustrated as the dispute drags on, disrupting Disney's coverage of opening week college football and the NFL, and the U.S. Open tennis tournament. Disney Channel, FX and ABC television stations have also been dark since Sept. 1.
The dispute between Disney and DirecTV became tense over the weekend after DirecTV filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission alleging that Disney had not been negotiating in good faith and that its tactics were anticompetitive. DirecTV launched an advertising campaign featuring Mickey Mouse from “Steamboat Willie,” including an image of the rodent happily sailing a wooden boat over a cliff.
“Negotiations have stalled because Disney insists on bundling and penetration requirements that a federal district court judge in New York recently ruled… illegal, anticompetitive and 'bad for consumers,'” DirecTV alleged in its complaint.
Disney and other programmers have demanded increases in licensing fees for their programming, including cable shows that are no longer exclusive to pay-TV distributors. Programmers are trying to cover their increased costs, including for broadcasting NFL and NBA games.
Pay-TV providers like DirecTV are under even more pressure. More than 4 million households dropped pay-TV in the first six months of the year, according to research firm MoffettNathanson.
DirecTV has expressed irritation over Disney's shift to streaming.
“Disney wants to force DirecTV to offer a ‘fat bundle’ that includes less desirable Disney programming, while offering cheaper, ‘skinny’ bundles of programming that consumers want,” DirecTV said in its FCC complaint.
The FCC process could drag on for months and would not provide much relief to DirecTV's nearly 11 million customers. The two sides have made progress in reaching a tentative agreement on rates, the sources said.
In September of last year, a nearly 12-day blackout of Disney channels on Charter Communications’ Spectrum service ended as the first “Monday Night Football” game of the season began. That happened just as Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a season-ending injury in the opening minutes of “Monday Night Football.” Rodgers is expected to play against the 49ers.
New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers sat out last year's Monday Night Football opener after tearing his left Achilles tendon in the New York Jets' first game of 2023.
(Adam Hunger/Associated Press)
In its message, Disney has encouraged frustrated viewers to cancel DirecTV in favor of other distributors, including Hulu + Live TV, which Disney owns. The company also offers Disney+ directly to consumers and, this year, joined a joint venture with Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox Corp. to create a sports-focused bundle of cable channels, including ESPN, called Venu.
But last month, a New York judge issued a temporary injunction blocking Venu's launch, saying the service could be anti-competitive.
Disney, which is moving toward its goal of launching ESPN with its live sports offering to consumers next year, has denied DirecTV's claims.
“We urge DirecTV to stop creating distractions and instead put its customers first by finalizing an agreement that will allow its subscribers to watch our robust future sports, news and entertainment programming, beginning with the return of Monday Night Football,” Disney said.
Disney’s eight ABC stations, including KABC-TV in Los Angeles, are blacked out on DirecTV and U-Verse, meaning viewers miss out on local newscasts, “Good Morning America,” “The View” and “Jeopardy.”
All DirecTV Stream customers have lost access to their local ABC station due to an existing agreement that allows Disney to negotiate on behalf of local ABC affiliates owned by other companies.
DirecTV satellite dishes in Culver City.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Beyond “Monday Night Football” and college football, if the blackout extends into next weekend, DirecTV customers could miss Sunday’s broadcast of the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards.
DirecTV has offered $30 credits to its customers, but that hasn't reassured many subscribers.
DirecTV wants to offer smaller packages of themed content, such as children's and family entertainment, local channels and sports. Disney executives said they were willing to work with DirecTV, but negotiations remain stalled.
One of the biggest sticking points in the negotiations has been Disney’s requirement for “minimum penetration” for its channels. Disney has long required that its channels reach at least 90% of DirecTV’s subscriber base, according to the FCC complaint. (The minimum threshold for ESPN channels is closer to 80%, executives have said.)
When DirecTV fails to meet that goal, it has to pay huge fines, DirecTV executives have said.
“The parties remain at an impasse because Disney has refused to allow DirecTV to offer ‘narrower packages’ of programming unless DirecTV also meets related minimum penetration requirements designed to make the provision of those narrower packages effectively impossible or prohibitively expensive,” DirecTV said in the filing.
