What do Hudson Yards, Hooters, a gym, and a JetBlue flight have in common? People on social media have posted about seeing screens at all these locations go dark this week due to DirecTV’s ongoing spat with Disney. Since the two parties haven’t been able to negotiate a new carriage contract yet, September 4 marks the fourth day of a DirecTV blackout on Disney-owned channels including ESPN, ABC, Freeform, and more. For some frustrated fans, that means the U.S. Open was closed, LSU and USC’s college football game never kicked off, and The Bachelorette star Jenn Tran never had to relive that finale proposal (though to be fair, she might have preferred that).
If you’re one of the satellite service’s estimated 11.3 million subscribers and have been affected by the outages, DirecTV is offering a $20 bill credit … as long as you fill out this form and request it yourself. But who’s responsible for this situation in the first place? Naturally, the corporations are blaming each other. DirecTV has claimed that it’s trying to push back against profit-driven, anti-consumer bundles stuffed with channels that people don’t want; Disney is suggesting that it has actually offered DirecTV some nice, flexible options that would be healthy for the market.
Even as NFL season begins and the presidential debate approaches, DirecTV doesn’t seem ready to give in yet. Per The Wrap, DirecTV’s CFO told investors on Tuesday that the company is not playing a “short-term game,†further claiming that this dispute is about “changing the model in a way that gives everyone confidence that this industry can survive.†We get the feeling that when it comes to the lawsuit over Disney’s planned sports-streaming bundle with Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, DirecTV might be Team Fubo.