The impasse between DirecTV and Disney over a new broadcast deal is entering its second week and has intensified.
DirecTV filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission on Saturday night, accusing Disney of negotiating in bad faith.
The Disney Channel, which includes ESPN and ABC-owned stations in nine markets, has been removed from DirecTV starting the evening of September 1st.
That means DirecTV customers will no longer be able to watch most college football games, including the men’s and women’s finals, and the final week of U.S. Open tennis matches.
DirecTV has 11.3 million subscribers, making it the third-largest pay-TV provider in the United States, according to Leichtman Research Group.
ABC and ESPN will broadcast the “Monday Night Football” season opener between the New York Jets and the San Francisco 49ers. ABC will also produce and broadcast the presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
ABC-owned stations in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Fresno, California, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston and Raleigh, North Carolina are no longer on DirecTV.
All ESPN network channels and ABC-owned stations will be unavailable, as well as Disney-branded channels Freeform, FX and National Geographic.
In its 10-page complaint, DirecTV argues that Disney violated the FCC’s duty of good faith by asking it to abandon legal claims for all anticompetitive conduct, including ongoing packaging and minimum penetration requirements.
DirecTV asked Disney for the option to offer consumers cheaper, lower-quality bundles rather than larger bundles that include programming that some viewers may not be interested in watching.
The complaint states: “In addition to these anti-competitive demands, Disney has required that DirecTV agree to a ‘clean slate’ clause and a covenant not to sue, both of which are intended to prevent DirecTV from taking legal action regarding Disney’s anti-competitive demands, including filing a good faith complaint with the Commission. Yet just three months ago, the Media Bureau made clear that such demands themselves constitute bad faith.”
DirecTV CEO Ray Carpenter said in a conference call with business and media analysts on Tuesday that the company won’t agree to a new broadcast deal with Disney without finalizing the changes.
“We’re not playing a short-term game,” Carpenter said. “We need something that works for the long-term sustainability of our video customers. The commitment is there.”
Disney has argued since the start of the blackout that mutual releases of claims are standard practice once license agreements are negotiated and agreed upon between the parties, and that the company had made such agreements with DirecTV during previous contract renewals.
A Disney spokesperson said: “We continue to negotiate with DirecTV to restore access to our content as soon as possible. We urge DirecTV to stop producing programming that distracts viewers and instead work through a deal to prioritize customers and ensure subscribers can watch the return of Monday Night Football, as well as our upcoming lineup of strong sports, news and entertainment programming.”
Last year, Disney and Charter Spectrum, the second-largest cable television provider in the United States, were locked in a nearly 12-day stalemate before reaching an agreement just hours before the first Monday night NFL game of the season.