Following a dispute that lasted for nearly two weeks and resulted in the blackout of ESPN and ABC-owned stations for millions of people across the United States, DirecTV announced on Saturday that it had struck an agreement with Walt Disney Company that will allow it to bring back those stations to its service.
Sports enthusiasts eagerly anticipated the resolution of the dispute, which coincided with ESPN’s scheduled college football games on DirecTV. Additionally, viewers in a greater number of key areas where they subscribe to DirecTV’s paid service will have access to the Emmy Awards broadcast, which ABC will show on Sunday night.
ABC has been unavailable on DirecTV in some locations where Disney owns the network since September 1. These locations included the San Francisco Bay Area, Fresno, California, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, and Raleigh, North Carolina.
Eleven million DirecTV customers unexpectedly lost access to ESPN, ABC-owned stations, and other Disney-controlled channels like FX and National Geographic over the Labor Day weekend. This was due to a dispute over carriage fees and programming flexibility.
When ESPN suddenly went dark, some viewers were watching the fourth round of the U.S. Open tennis competition, while others were getting ready to watch a college football duel between LSU and Southern California.
Various events transpired in succession.
Due to the impasse, DirecTV customers were unable to view the season opener of Monday Night Football.
Disney and DirectTV announced an arrangement on Saturday, although no financial specifics were revealed. Disney and DirecTV have announced that they would be agreeing to “market-based” pricing as part of their contract.
As a result of the agreement, DirecTV will be able to provide Disney’s video streaming services in a la carte fashion in addition to offering them in its exclusive bundles. As soon as the direct-to-consumer streaming service that ESPN is planning to launch becomes available, DirecTV has been awarded the right to include it in its lineup of services at an additional fee to its subscribers.
Just a few days after DirecTV filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, accusing Disney of engaging in negotiations in bad faith, they reached an agreement. The escalating tensions prompted the filing of the complaint.
The company’s ongoing negotiations regarding the rights to utilize its programs have rendered Disney’s networks inaccessible to a pay-TV service for the second year in a row. Disney and Spectrum, the second largest cable TV provider in the United States, resolved their disagreement shortly before ESPN scheduled the first game of the Monday Night Football season in the previous year. Disney withdrew its channels from Spectrum for a period of twelve days.
