The college football season kicked off today, but millions of DirecTV customers found themselves in the dark as ESPN, Disney, ABC stations, and streaming services like Hulu went offline due to a contract dispute with parent company Walt Disney Co.
This disruption occurred on one of the busiest nights in sports, coinciding with the start of the college football season and ESPN’s coverage of the U.S. Open tennis tournament. The broadcast was cut just before the fourth-round matches began at 7:20 p.m. Eastern Time, leaving many viewers frustrated and voicing their complaints on social media. The blackout also hampered the start of the football game between No. 13 Louisiana State University and No. 23 University of Southern California.
DirecTV, which has around 11.3 million customers, is the third-largest pay TV provider in America according to Leichtman Research Group.
The dispute revolves around carriage fees that DirecTV pays to Disney for broadcasting its channels. DirecTV accused Disney of adopting an “anti-consumer approach” by insisting on a new deal that bundles services, while DirecTV seeks to provide customers the option to subscribe to individual networks to help reduce costs.
Such disagreements have led to multiple service blackouts in recent years, as media companies frequently clash with pay TV providers over subscription models and content distribution. Distributors are particularly upset about production companies prioritizing direct-to-consumer platforms over traditional broadcasting.
DirecTV highlighted the instance of the miniseries “Shogun” being available on Hulu before it aired on FX, and claimed Disney offered a channel extension in exchange for DirecTV dropping future legal claims regarding alleged anti-competitive behavior. Rob Thun, DirecTV’s chief content officer, criticized Disney for avoiding accountability to consumers and distribution partners and argued that their demands would hinder consumers from accessing shows and sports affordably.
In response, Disney stated it had offered DirecTV flexible terms akin to those given to other distributors, firmly rejecting any agreement that fails to reflect the value of its television channels and programs.