On Sunday, the carriage dispute between Disney and DirecTV resulted in all Disney-owned networks disappearing from DirecTV’s satellite and streaming services.
Usually, such fights becomes a predictable finger-pointing exercise, with the provider blaming the networks and the networks blaming provider — with the truth usually that they’re all to blame.
As noted by sports business reporter Daniel Kaplan on X, a press release from DirecTV adds to the typical they’re being cheap and they’re being greedy contentions a reference to the recent litigation that upended (for now, and possibly for good) the sports mega-streamer proposed by Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery.
"[J]ust hours before today’s expiration, Disney demanded that to reach any licensing agreement or to extend access to its programming, DIRECTV must agree to waive all claims that Disney’s behavior is anti-competitive,” DirecTV contends. “Moreover, any future lawsuits resulting from DIRECTV/Disney licensing agreements would be adjudicated in California — and not New York — because — as Disney counsel specifically stated — SDNY Judge Garnett ‘didn’t understand the issues’ when granting a preliminary injunction against Disney’s Venu Sports. Disney’s last-minute demands to foreclose upon any legal accountability for its growing pattern of anti-competitive actions should be troubling to all pro-consumer advocacy groups, regulators, and Department of Justice attorneys alike.”
The current fight impacts all DirecTV customers, from traditional satellite users to DirecTV Stream to U-verse. It comes a year after a fight between Disney and Charter Communications kept Disney-owned content off of that service from late August until the day Monday Night Football launched, with the Jets hosting the Bills.
In one week, the 2024 Monday Night Football slate begins with the 49ers hosting the Jets.