Disney and DirecTV reached a deal over the weekend that will see the service restored across the Mouse House's “entire portfolio of networks,” including ESPN and ABC, as the college and pro football seasons get into full swing.
This agreement is as follows Two-week blackout on Disney-owned networks The schedule for DirecTV ran up to the U.S. Open, a series of college football games, the season premiere of “Monday Night Football” and the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump, which was hosted by ABC.
DirecTV's 11 million customers have been without access to Disney-owned channels since Sept. 1 when license renewal talks failed, leading to a two-week standoff between the two companies.
The point was that DirecTV customers should have more flexibility in the channels they include in their packages with Disney. The company argued that streaming companies allow such flexibility.
Most contracts require pay TV distributors to charge customers for all of the company's channels, whether they want them or not. For example, DirecTV customers can watch Disney-owned ESPN and ESPN 2, but not Disney Junior channels and FX.
In the new deal, the satellite provider's customers can now choose more genre-specific packages, such as sports or family programming, to better compete with streaming offerings. DirecTV customers can also add Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, Disney's streaming services, to packages.
“Through this first-of-its-kind collaboration, DirecTV and Disney are offering customers the ability to customize their video experience through more flexible options,” the companies said in a joint statement Saturday.
During the company's earnings call on Thursday, DirecTV Chief Marketing Officer Vince Torres said the two-week blackout caused his company to lose subscribers, but while he did not specify a number, he said the company lost more than 1,000 subscribers for 2014-15. The defections “were not insignificant.”
The move comes as DirecTV's subscriber base has declined significantly in recent years, as customers have opted to cut back on their cable packages in favor of streaming.
a car Dispute between Disney and Charter CommunicationsA power crisis at Spectrum's parent company caused a blackout that lasted nearly two weeks around this time last year and was resolved just hours ago. ESPN's “MNF” opener In which the Jets faced the Buffalo Bills.
