Disney, DirecTV Customers Rage While Companies Play Blame Game

The Walt Disney Company and DirecTV have made a lot of people very, very angry, and they have only one thing to say about it: it’s the other guy’s fault.

Credit: Inside the Magic

On Sunday, September 1, approximately 11.3 million Americans who subscribed to pay-TV services from DirecTV saw a whole slew of channels suddenly disappear from their TV sets. The Disney Channel? Missing. ABC? No sign of it. ESPN? Gone! Even though people had paid for bulky, overstuffed satellite TV packages, including those channels (plus generally less desirable ones like Freeform and National Geographic), a disagreement between Disney and DirecTV means they didn’t get what they bought.

All of that is perfectly legal, of course. Subscriber contracts with DirecTV (same as Dish and the company’s other competitors) are dependent upon “carriage agreements,” which is the bargain that distributors make with content providers like The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBCUniversal, and all the rest. Basically, if they can’t make a deal to carry their entertainment, you don’t get to either.

Credit: Disney

Disney had an agreement with DirecTV to provide channels like The Disney Channel, Disney Junior, DisneyXD, ABC, Freeform, and, most importantly, from a business perspective, ESPN (Monday Night Football coming up and all). That contract expired on September 1, and the two corporations couldn’t figure out a way to play nice and make money together, which means that a whole bunch of people are angry at both of them.

Let’s take some social media examples. Twitter user @Im_Just_SayingX posted his very clear opinion, saying, “Day 3 of no ESPN because 2 MULTI BILLION DOLLAR CORPORATIONS are having a pissing match over a few dollars. @Disney
and @DIRECTV are both putting out statements about how much ‘they care about their customers’ which is total bullshit. Neither one gives a damn about their customers.”

Day 3 of no ESPN because 2 MULTI BILLION DOLLAR CORPORATIONS are having a pissing match over a few dollars. @Disney and @DIRECTV are both putting out statements about how much "they care about their customers" which is total bullshit. Neither one gives a damn about their…

— Im_Just_Sayin (@Im_Just_SayingX) September 4, 2024

@wesrucker247 waxed philosophical about the whole thing, posting, “I give zero effs who’s responsible for this DirecTV and ESPN thing. All I know is when you sign a deal and pay for something, you should continue to get that thing or you should be charged less if you don’t have it. Greed. Greed. Greed. We are surrounded by greed.”

I give zero effs who's responsible for this DirecTV and ESPN thing.

All I know is when you sign a deal and pay for something, you should continue to get that thing or you should be charged less if you don't have it.

Greed. Greed. Greed. We are surrounded by greed.

— Wes Rucker (@wesrucker247) September 2, 2024

On the other hand, @NKucsma_ASI had already made his decision and, you guessed it, he’s upset. He posted, “Hey
@DIRECTV we pay you well north of $200 a month and you cut out the US Open and Phillies on ESPN. Well guess what. We just started our free trial to YouTube TV and am cancelling you on Tuesday. Been toying with the idea for a while. Decision has now been made.”

Hey @DIRECTV we pay you well north of $200 a month and you cut out the US Open and Phillies on ESPN. Well guess what. We just started our free trial to YouTube TV and am cancelling you on Tuesday. Been toying with the idea for a while. Decision has now been made.

— Nate Kucsma (@NKucsma_ASI) September 2, 2024

Clearly, people are not happy. Meanwhile, DirecTV is claiming that Disney is trying to force it to give up legal protections in order to carry its channels, saying:

“The Walt Disney Co. is once again refusing any accountability to consumers, distribution partners, and now the American judicial system. Disney is in the business of creating alternate realities, but this is the real world where we believe you earn your way and must answer for your own actions. They want to continue to chase maximum profits and dominant control at the expense of consumers – making it harder for them to select the shows and sports they want at a reasonable price.”

“Consumer frustration is at an all-time high as Disney shifts its best producers, most innovative shows, top teams, conferences, and entire leagues to their direct-to-consumer services while making customers pay more than once for the same programming on multiple Disney platforms.”

Credit: Inside the Magic

As you might expect, Disney says it’s all DirecTV’s fault and that it has been plenty flexible. It seems everyone is sure that someone is to blame here, but no one thinks it’s them.

Whose fault is this? Disney? DirecTV? Tell us in very measured arguments below!