With the US Open tennis tournament concluding this weekend and Monday Night Football set to kick off its season subsequent week, a contract dispute between Disney and DirecTV could not come at a a lot worse time for DirecTV sports activities followers.
On Sunday, Sept. 1, Disney suddenly pulled all its programming channels — together with ESPN, ABC, Hulu, Disney Plus, Freeform and FX — off the DirecTV service because of a dispute over licensing agreements. The contract dispute between Disney and DirecTV echoes a similar outage last year on Spectrum TV. Although final yr’s dispute was principally about licensing costs, this yr’s disagreement appears to run a bit deeper.
On a convention name with traders Tuesday, DirecTV CFO Ray Carpenter mentioned, “This isn’t a run-of-the-mill dispute. This isn’t the type the place persons are haggling over proportion factors on the charges,” according to Reuters. And on the social media website X (previously Twitter), the official DirecTV account has been warning subscribers that “switching isn’t the answer.”
There isn’t any indication of when or whether or not the contract dispute between Disney and DirecTV shall be resolved. Till then, DirecTV is providing a billing credit score to subscribers impacted by the Disney outage. Learn on to discover ways to declare that billing credit score and the whole lot else that you must know in regards to the Disney-DirecTV contract dispute.
Which viewers are affected by the Disney channel outage on DirecTV?
In its assertion Sunday, DirecTV mentioned that “tens of millions of DirecTV, DirecTV Stream and U-verse prospects” misplaced entry to Disney programming channels. That programming consists of embrace Disney Plus, ESPN, ABC, Hulu, Freeform and FX. In accordance with Statista, DirecTV had 11.3 million subscribers within the fourth quarter of 2023.
DirecTV subscribers with native ABC affiliate stations that are not owned by Disney will proceed to obtain their native ABC channel by way of satellite tv for pc service, however ABC won’t be out there by way of streaming.
When will Disney channels return to DirectTV?
The meat between Disney and DirecTV this yr brings a little bit of soccer season déjà vu. Final yr, on Aug. 31, Spectrum TV viewers suddenly lost access to Disney programming because of one other licensing settlement dispute.
Disney and Spectrum ultimately resolved their variations, but it surely took till Sept. 11. Since this licensing settlement dispute is totally different, there isn’t any indication but if DirecTV viewers can have ESPN again by the point the 49ers host the Jets for the first Monday Night Football game on Sept. 9.
How else can DirecTV subscribers watch ESPN, ABC and different Disney channels now?
Now that Disney channels are off DirecTV, subscribers may make the most of different streaming providers to be able to change that programming. Each of CNET’s top-rated streaming providers — YouTube TV and Hulu Plus Live TV — supply all the main Disney channels that have been faraway from DirectTV, together with ABC, ESPN, Disney Plus, Disney Junior, Disney XD, Freeform, FX and Nationwide Geographic.
YouTube TV’s base plan costs $73 a month and offers a 21-day trial, in case you are anticipating Disney and DirecTV to resolve their variations within the subsequent few weeks. Hulu Plus Live TV costs $77 a month and provides a three-day trial.
Fubo’s base plan consists of all the main Disney channels like ESPN, FX and ABC. It runs $80 a month, though there’s a seven-day free trial and the first month currently only costs $50. Equally, SlingTV gives a lot of the Disney channels by its base Sling Orange bundle, which prices $15 for the first month and $40 a month thereafter. If you would like your native ABC affiliate you will both want so as to add Sling Blue or increase your TV protection with an over-the-air antenna.
As talked about above, in case your native ABC affiliate shouldn’t be owned by Disney, you’ll nonetheless obtain your native channel by way of satellite tv for pc however not by way of streaming with the DirecTV app.
How can DirecTV subscribers get a refund for the lack of Disney programming?
In the event you’re a DirecTV subscriber affected by the lack of the Disney programming channels, you might be eligible for a credit score from the satellite tv for pc TV firm. On its support page for missing TV channels, DirecTV says that the credit score is “a small solution to acknowledge the disruption and make up for the non permanent inconvenience whereas we work to carry the channels again to your lineup.”
To see in the event you qualify for a DirecTV credit score, go to the corporate’s TV Promise web page, choose your TV service from the drop-down menu, enter your ZIP code and hit Search to see. If the location says that you just’re eligible for a credit score, go to the Discover invoice credit part of the TV Promise web page to pick the right button to say your compensation.
Impartial CNET analysis backs up reports from Reddit that the credit is $20, and that it ought to be utilized to your subsequent DirecTV invoice.
