ESPN, ABC and other Disney channels dropped from DirecTV in contract dispute (2024)

Walt Disney Co.-owned channels, including ESPN and ABC stations, were knocked off DirecTV platforms Sunday after talks to reach a new distribution deal collapsed.

The blackout — which affects DirecTV’s nearly 11 million customer homes — hit before the kickoff of Sunday’s highly anticipated University of Southern California-Louisiana State University college football game and in the middle of ESPN’s coverage of the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York. The impasse came at the deadline for a new distribution deal after weeks of haggling between the two companies over contract terms and fees that Disney charges to carry its programming.

Without an agreement, DirecTV and its U-Verse service lost the rights to carry Disney channels.

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“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,” Rob Thun, chief content officer at DirecTV, said in a statement shortly after the channels went dark at 4 p.m. PST.

Sports fans will quickly feel the pinch. In addition to college football on ESPN and ABC, the new NFL season begins later this week. ESPN is set to start its season with a “Monday Night Football” game Sept. 9 between the San Francisco 49ers and New York Jets, in which Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers is expected to return after suffering an injury a year ago.

Disney’s eight ABC stations, including KABC-TV Channel 7 in Los Angeles, are no longer available on DirecTV. That means viewers of local news and “Jeopardy,” “Wheel of Fortune,” “Good Morning America” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” will be without some of their favorite shows. Customers in Fresno, San Francisco, Chicago and New York also lost access to their local ABC station.

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Other Disney-owned channels, including Freeform, FX and National Geographic, are included in the outage.

“While we’re open to offering DirecTV flexibility and terms which we’ve extended to other distributors, we will not enter into an agreement that undervalues our portfolio of television channels and programs,” read a statement from Disney Entertainment heads Dana Walden, Alan Bergman and ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro. “We urge DirecTV to do what’s in the best interest of their customers and finalize a deal that would immediately restore our programming.”

It’s not clear how long the blackout will last. A year ago, a similar tussle between Disney and Charter Communications, which operates the Spectrum TV service, resulted in a 12-day blackout of Disney channels.

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The Labor Day Weekend clash reflects the television industry’s economic strain.

The shift to streaming and resulting cord-cutting has devastated pay-TV companies. DirecTV has lost more than half of its subscribers in the last decade. The El Segundo company now has about 11 million subscribers, according to industry estimates.

This year marked the worse-ever industry drop in pay-TV subscribers, according to the MoffettNathanson financial research firm. During the first quarter, the industry lost nearly 2.4 million pay-TV homes in the U.S. — a 12% year-over-year decline, the firm said in a recent report.

ESPN, ABC and other Disney channels dropped from DirecTV in contract dispute (2)

Other Disney-owned channels, including Freeform, FX and National Geographic, are included in the outage. Above, Walt Disney Co.’s headquarters in Burbank.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Subscriber declines have squeezed Disney.

The Burbank entertainment company has long relied on billions of dollars in programming fees that it receives annually from DirecTV and other providers. The fees are calculated, in part, by the number of subscribers that receive the channels.

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In addition, Disney’s ESPN has historically been the most expensive basic cable channel, costing distributors nearly $10 per month per subscriber home. Disney has sought to maintain those premiums to help pay for its pricey sports rights contracts, including long-term NFL and NBA deals.

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The challenges set the stage for contentious contract talks at DirecTV’s El Segundo headquarters.

The environment has changed dramatically since the last time the two companies hammered out an accord. That was in 2019 when DirecTV was wholly owned by AT&T. Since then, the phone giant has spun its television distribution group into a separate entity and taken on a private equity partner, TPG, to manage the business.

For the past year, DirecTV executives have been working on plans to increase its offerings to consumers.

DirecTV wants to offer genre-themed packages — think sports or general entertainment — to provide cheaper plans for customers who refuse to pay $100 or more each month for a traditional bundle with more than 100 television channels. Executives want to appeal to customers who have long pined for a way to sign up for only the channels they actually watch.

But, according to DirecTV, existing contracts with programmers prevent it from widely offering customers curated packages.

“Instead of allowing distributors like DirecTV to also develop smaller, more tailored packages at prices that reflect the value they get from the content, programmers have continued to impose and enforce strict bundling requirements,” DirecTV said in a position paper in late August.

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The expiration of the 2019 distribution deal with Disney has given DirecTV an opening to try to change contract terms.

The satellite TV company said it has asked Disney to ease a key distribution requirement — minimum penetration rates. For example, Disney’s deals require that DirecTV and other distributors provide ESPN to a minimum of nearly 80% of its customer base.

DirecTV maintains that such “antiquated” penetration rates “force pay TV customers to subscribe to many channels they may not watch,” and the contracts limit DirecTV’s ability to offer smaller and less-expensive packages. During the negotiations, Disney said it offered DirecTV with more flexibility to tailor “skinny” genre-themed packages that it wanted for its customers.

The Burbank company also agreed to work with DirecTV on the minimum penetration rates, Thun said.

“But not enough to really change the game for us,” Thun said in an interview. “We moved much further than they have [during the negotiations], and what they put on the table in terms of skinny bundles was not the total amount that we had asked for.”

Making a wholesale switch could reduce revenue flowing to Disney at a critical time.

Disney’s stock has been under pressure amid softness at its theme parks and resorts and shares have been trading near five-year lows. On Friday, Disney closed up nearly 1% to $90.38.

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Last year’s outage of ESPN and other Disney channels on Charter’s Spectrum ended with an agreement that saw several smaller Disney channels, including Freeform and Disney Jr., dropped from Spectrum’s lineup.

In the end, both companies said they came away with a win.

Charter didn’t force the issue of penetration rates. Instead, Disney and Charter agreed to widen the reach of the Burbank company’s streaming services, including Disney+ into Spectrum homes.

Disney executives had been hoping last year’s Charter agreement can provide a template for a pact with DirecTV.

In the end, the weekend talks broke down over economics, executives said.

“We continue to invest in really high-quality content — scripted entertainment, ABC News and sports rights,” Justin Connolly, Disney’s president of platform distribution, said in an interview last week.” All of those things continue to increase in cost for us and ... the rates that we are asking for are in-line with what we have with other providers in the marketplace.”

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ESPN, ABC and other Disney channels dropped from DirecTV in contract dispute (2024)

FAQs

ESPN, ABC and other Disney channels dropped from DirecTV in contract dispute? ›

On Sunday, Sept. 1, Disney suddenly pulled all its programming channels -- including ESPN, ABC, Hulu, Disney Plus, Freeform and FX -- off the DirecTV service due to a dispute over licensing agreements. The contract dispute between Disney and DirecTV echoes a similar outage last year on Spectrum TV.

What channels are affected by DirecTV dispute? ›

Due to a contract dispute between DirecTV and Disney, Disney pulled most of its programming from DirecTV servers on September 1, since leaving DirecTV owners without channels like ESPN, ESPN2, ACC Network, SEC Network, and yes, ABC.

Why is ESPN gone from DirecTV? ›

The company failed to reach an agreement with Disney before the Sept. 1 expiration of their prior distribution agreement, resulting in ESPN, ABC, SEC Network, Disney Channel, NatGeo, Freeform and the rest of Disney's networks getting pulled from the DirecTV lineup.

Is ABC blocked on DirecTV? ›

All Disney-owned channels are blacked out on DirecTV. For college football fans, that means games cast on ABC (in certain markets) and the ESPN family of networks (including the ACC and SEC networks) will be blacked out.

What channels were lost on DirecTV? ›

In its statement Sunday, DirecTV said that "millions of DirecTV, DirecTV Stream and U-verse customers" lost access to Disney programming channels. That programming includes include Disney Plus, ESPN, ABC, Hulu, Freeform and FX. According to Statista, DirecTV had 11.3 million subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2023.

How do I get my DIRECTV channels back? ›

Refresh your DIRECTV channels and service
  1. Go to myAT&T account overview and select My DIRECTV.
  2. Choose Manage Package.
  3. Scroll to Manage receivers and elect Refresh receiver.
  4. Your DIRECTV service may be interrupted for a few minutes during the refresh process.

What is the dispute between Disney and DIRECTV? ›

Negotiations on a new contract have stalled due to Disney demanding that DirecTV carry out a "fat bundle" that would include "less desirable Disney programming," thus allowing Disney to offer cheaper and "skinnier" bundles containing programming consumers want, according to the complaint filed to the FCC.

Why can't I watch ESPN on DirecTV? ›

All those channels went dark Sunday, Sept. 1, when DirecTV's five-year contract with Disney ran out. For now, DirecTV subscribers cannot watch those channels, nor ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, ESPNU, ESPN News, ACC Network, SEC Network, Disney Junior, and National Geographic.

How to get ABC and ESPN? ›

Watch ABC and ESPN on Hulu + Live TV

Hulu + Live TV plans include ABC and ESPN, so you can livestream both channels online without cable. Your subscription to Hulu starts at just $76.99/month and includes bonus access to Disney+ and ESPN+ as well.

Why is my ESPN channel not working? ›

Check your internet connection. Check the HDMI connections on your streaming device. Test streaming content on another app. Uninstall and reinstall the ESPN app.

Why is my TV not picking up ABC channels? ›

Try another TV (if available) in the same house to determine if it the issue is specific to one TV. Ensure all internal antenna cables are connected firmly and correctly. If you have an antenna booster, ensure it's connected properly. You may need to replace the cable connecting your TV to the antenna wall socket.

Does ABC channel still exist? ›

ABC has eight owned-and-operated and more than 230 affiliated television stations throughout the United States and its territories.

Why is my ABC channel locked? ›

The lock symbol identifies which episodes require you to sign in with a participating TV provider. The locked episode for many shows will become available to watch without signing in with a participating TV provider 8 days* after the episode first airs on TV.

Why did Disney drop DirecTV? ›

Shortly after 4 p.m. PT (7 p.m. ET) on Sept. 1, Disney removed all of its programming channels -- including ESPN, ABC, Hulu, Freeform and FX -- from the DirecTV satellite service. Disney's decision to remove its programming appears to stem from a dispute over its licensing agreement with DirecTV.

What channels did Disney pull from DirecTV? ›

On Sunday, Sept. 1, Disney suddenly pulled all its programming channels -- including ESPN, ABC, Hulu, Disney Plus, Freeform and FX -- off the DirecTV service due to a dispute over licensing agreements.

Is DirecTV being discontinued? ›

DIRECTV NOW service wasn't discontinued, but the name changed to AT&T TV NOW in 2018. Similarly, AT&T TV NOW and AT&T TV were rebranded to DIRECTV STREAM in 2021. The mobile app was reintroduced as the DIRECTV STREAM app.

What channel is investigation on DIRECTV? ›

What channel is Investigation Discovery HD on DIRECTV?

Why are my channels not showing up on DIRECTV? ›

Many issues, including channels missing from the guide, can be fixed by refreshing (reauthorizing) your receiver. To refresh: Go to My equipment & services. Review the equipment you have and identify the impacted receiver(s).

What channel does DIRECTV need to be on? ›

Plug one end of the cable into the coaxial port on the back of the DIRECTV® receiver and the other end into the coaxial port on your TV. Tune TV to channel 3 or 4 to receive a DIRECTV service signal.

What has to be returned to DIRECTV? ›

When you cancel your service, replace equipment, or remove equipment from your account, you'll need to return your leased equipment in good condition to avoid a non-return fee or damaged equipment fee. Heads up! Refer to the DIRECTV Equipment Lease Agreement for full details on non-return and damaged equipment fees.

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