The contractual battle between DirecTV and Disney is heating up, with the DirecTV blackout for Disney-owned networks all but certain to continue into a second week.
On Saturday, DirecTV filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, alleging that Disney failed to negotiate in good faith. DirecTV asserted that Disney violated the FCC’s good faith mandate by making any licensing agreement conditional on DirecTV waiving any legal claims regarding Disney’s “anticompetitive actions,” including persistent packaging and minimal intrusion claims.
Disney and DirecTV failed to reach an agreement before the previous distribution agreement expired on September 1, pulling ESPN, ABC, FX, SEC Network, ACC Network, Disney Channel, NatGeo, Freeform and the rest of the Disney networks from DirecTV’s lineup. The companies remain far apart in resolving the dispute amid a packed weekend of sports on ESPN and ABC including college football and the 2024 U.S. Open tennis finals. Additionally, “Monday Night Football” is set to return on ESPN on September 9 with the New York Jets taking on the San Francisco 49ers, and ABC News will host the September 10 debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
In a statement to diverse In response to DirecTV’s complaint to the FCC, a Disney spokesperson said: “We continue to negotiate with DirecTV to restore access to our content as quickly as possible. We urge DirecTV to stop creating distractions and instead prioritize its customers by finalizing a deal that allows its subscribers to watch our robust upcoming lineup of sports, news and entertainment programming, starting with the return of ‘Monday Night Football.’”
“The negotiations have stalled because Disney insists on bundling and hacking requirements that a New York federal district court judge recently found in the context of the Vino joint venture to be illegal, anticompetitive, and ‘bad for consumers.’ Disney wants to force DirecTV to offer a ‘bulky bundle’ of less appealing Disney programming — while it itself offers cheaper, ‘slimmer’ bundles of programming that consumers want. The Commission has never considered a complaint in good faith under these circumstances, and DirecTV may wish to file a complaint in the future about Disney’s conduct,” DirecTV’s complaint reads in part.
“In addition to these anticompetitive claims,” the complaint continues, “Disney also insisted that DirecTV agree to a ‘clean slate’ clause and a non-sue covenant, both of which were intended to prevent DirecTV from taking legal action over Disney’s anticompetitive claims, which would include filing good faith complaints with the Commission. But less than three months ago, the Information Office made clear that such a request itself “Constitutes bad faith.”
See also: DirecTV tells customers it will raise prices next month, as ESPN, ABC, other Disney networks go offline
DirecTV blames Disney for the stalled negotiations, which have left its more than 11 million customers “already missing early college football games,” who “may also miss the first game of ‘Monday Night Football,’ and if the stalemate continues, the presidential debate, produced and hosted by ABC.”
On DirecTV’s point about Disney requiring the pay-TV provider to waive legal claims, Disney says that such mutual waivers of claims are standard practice after licensing agreements are negotiated and agreed to by both parties. In fact, according to Disney, the media company has had “clean slate” agreements with DirecTV with every previous renewal – so Disney suggests that it is DirecTV that failed to engage in good-faith talks.
Due to the outage, DirecTV satellite subscribers lost access to local Disney owned and operated ABC stations in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Fresno, California and Raleigh, North Carolina. Additionally, subscribers to DirecTV’s live streaming services across the United States lost access to ABC-affiliated stations that are not owned by ABC.
(Pictured above: New York Jets linebacker Aaron Rodgers during the Sept. 11, 2023 game against the Buffalo Bills on ESPN's “Monday Night Football.”)
