Disney has started to warn ESPN viewers that in a few hours, Disney-owned channels could go dark on DIRECTV. If a deal is not reached, Disney-owned channels, including ESPN, will go dark tomorrow, September 1st.
In response to Disney’s warning to ESPN viewers DIRECTV sent Cord Cutters News the following statement “we remain in active discussions to provide customers with more flexible packages and lower-priced alternatives in one simple experience.” DIRECTV also launched a new website for this fight with Disney called UnbundleDisney.com. On the site DIRECTV says Disney is harming consumers.
With warnings like this starting just a few hours before a potential blackout suggests that both sides are still very far away from reaching a deal.
This comes as both sides have started to take shots at each other suggesting that no deal is near.
Last week DIRECTV came out with a list of things it wants in new TV packages, including:
- Flexible Packages. Consumers want the ability to choose from genre-based programming without piecing together and purchasing an extensive lineup of channels that don’t meet their desires.
- Lower-Priced Alternatives. Consumers want price points closer to the DTC (direct-to-consumer) options they are familiar with and the ability to pay for all their programming through one platform.
- Aggregated Experience. Consumers want access to their favorite shows and sports and the ability to discover new content in one complete experience – live ‘linear’ TV or on-demand content from DIRECTV or a third party – instead of through numerous disjointed entry points while managing multiple individual subscriptions to those products.
This raised the question: will Disney agree to all of this, and if DIRECTV is willing to hold its ground, possibly resulting in a blackout? For Spectrum to reach its deal with Disney, it resulted in a blackout that went right down to the wire and almost resulted in Spectrum customers from missing the opening night of Monday Night Football before a last-second deal was reached.
For now, the clock is ticking, and we are likely just a few weeks away from a possible blackout of Disney-owned channels on DIRECTV.