Disney dropped ESPN, FX and ABC affiliates like KSAT from DirecTV’s service on Sunday after the companies failed to reach a new distribution agreement.
KSAT -TV, the San Antonio affiliate of ABC , was pulled from DirecTV’s lineup Sunday evening amid a contract dispute between DirecTV and Disney , which owns the broadcast network. Until Disney and DirecTV settle on a new contract, DirecTV subscribers can stream local KSAT programming for free on most smart TVs, online and over some phones.
Disney pulled its channels, which include ESPN, FX and National Geographic, from the satellite and streaming TV service at 6 p.m. Central time Sunday after the companies failed to reach an agreement over new contract terms and programming fees. The outage came during the first full weekend of college football — and minutes before the matchup between Louisiana State University and University of Southern California, which was being broadcast on ABC. ESPN was showing the fourth round of the U.S. Open. This is the second straight year that contract negotiations have led to ESPN going dark in September, though last year’s dispute was between Disney and Spectrum, the nation’s second-largest cable TV provider. The impasse lasted nearly two weeks before the two came to an agreement hours before the first Monday night NFL game of the season. It’s also the second straight year that DirecTV customers have lost access to channels during a contract dispute, with KENS-TV going dark previously. The dispute with Tegna, which owns KENS-TV, meant that DirecTV customers in San Antonio had to find another way to watch Spurs games and both college and football games for six weeks, from Nov. 30 through Jan. 13. If the blackout continues into next weekend, DirecTV customers will have to find another way to catch the game between the University of Texas at San Antonio and Texas State University, which is scheduled to be broadcast on ESPNU, and the first Monday night NFL game, featuring the New York Jets at the San Francisco 49ers. ABC is hosting the next presidential debate the following day, on Sept. 10. And the Roadrunners’ game against the University of Texas, set for Sept. 14, also could be affected — it’s set to be shown on ESPN. “Unlike with cable and satellite providers, KSAT does not control negotiations with streaming platforms like DIRECTV Stream,” the station said in a statement posted on its website. “KSAT would prefer to negotiate directly with streaming services, but, unfortunately, that is not how things work today. We hope that will change in the future,” the statement continued. DirecTV has 11.3 million subscribers, according to Leichtman Research Group, making it the nation’s third-largest pay TV provider. KSAT remains available for free using an over-the-air antenna. DirecTV said Disney offered an extension to keep its channels on the air in exchange for DirecTV having to waive all future legal claims that Disney’s behavior is anticompetitive. “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,” said Rob Thun, chief content officer at DirecTV. Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, co-chairmen of Disney Entertainment, and ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro issued a joint statement urging DirecTV to finalize a deal. “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,” the statement said. “We invest significantly to deliver the No. 1 brands in entertainment, news and sports because that’s what our viewers expect and deserve.” The impasse comes as networks and distributors continue to be at odds over content. Distributors and subscribers would like to see a model where they can buy channels a la carte instead of subscribing to a bundling package. Distributors also are frustrated with production companies putting some of their premium programing on direct-to-consumer platforms before they show up on channels. DirecTV cited the miniseries “Shogun” appearing on Hulu before FX. “Consumer frustration is at an all-time high as Disney shifts its best producers, most innovative shows, top teams, conferences, and entire leagues to their direct-to-consumer services while making customers pay more than once for the same programming on multiple Disney platforms,” Thun said. “Disney’s only magic is forcing prices to go up while simultaneously making its content disappear.” The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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