DirecTV has recently announced that a resolution has been made with Walt Disney Co. after a nearly two-week dispute that resulted in the blacking out of ESPN and ABC-owned stations for millions of viewers across the United States.
The conclusion of the standoff ensured that sports enthusiasts could once again enjoy ESPN’s lineup of college football games on DirecTV, and viewers in major markets subscribing to DirecTV’s pay service would have access to ABC’s telecast of the Emmy Awards on Sunday night.
The blackout began on September 1st, affecting markets such as the San Francisco Bay Area, Fresno, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, and Raleigh, where Disney-owned ABC stations were unavailable on DirecTV.
Approximately 11 million DirecTV subscribers found themselves without ESPN, ABC-owned stations, and other Disney channels like FX and National Geographic due to the dispute over carriage fees and programming flexibility, which occurred over the Labor Day weekend.
Financial specifics of the new deal between Disney and DirecTV were not disclosed during the announcement on Saturday. Payments from DirecTV to Disney will be determined based on “market-based” pricing.
Additionally, the agreement permits DirecTV to provide Disney’s video streaming services as standalone offerings or as part of bundled packages, and DirecTV will have the option to offer ESPN’s future streaming service to its subscribers at an extra cost when it becomes available.
The agreement was reached after escalating tensions prompted DirecTV to file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, accusing Disney of negotiating in bad faith. This marks the second consecutive year that Disney’s negotiations over its programming rights have led to its networks being taken off a pay-TV service, recalling a similar incident with Spectrum, the second-largest cable-TV provider in the U.S., last year.
