DirecTV Says Disney Blackout Has No Easy Resolution, Even With NFL Season Starting
variety.comBrian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Don’t count on next week’s debut of a new season of ESPN‘s “Monday Night Football” to force a quick end to the current carriage dispute between DirecTV and Walt Disney Co.
DirecTV CFO Ray Carpenter told investors Tuesday that the satellite distributor is prepared to stand firm against Disney’s current stance in a blackout that started over the weekend that will keep ESPN, Disney Channel and other Disney properties off the company’s service for the foreseeable future. “We don’t have any dates drawn in the sand,” Carpenter said, noting that DirecTV is “not playing a short-term game.” Disney finds itself facing off against another major distributor eager to create new models as more consumers leave traditional services like the one it operates and moves over to streaming hubs, many of them operated by Disney and its traditional media rivals.
Last year at about this time, Disney was involved in a similar dispute with the large cable distributor Charter Communications that resulted in an agreement that removed Disney outlets such as Freeform to be taken off of Charter’s service.
DirecTV, like other distributors, believes the rise of streaming services such as Disney+ and Hulu has degraded cable, forcing customers to pay for channels that have less premium content, or for networks they may not regularly use, then spurring them to pay in a second arrangement for a streaming alternative.
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