DirecTV Rejects Disney’s Offer to Provide Access to ABC News’ Harris-Trump Debate Amid Contract Standoff
UPDATED, 3:45 PM ET: Disney offered to temporarily provide DirecTV access to ABC News’ coverage of the presidential debate Tuesday night between VP Kamala Harris and Donald Trump — but DirecTV turned the offer down. Customers of DirecTV will still be able to watch the debate on a number of other outlets that will simulcast it live.
Disney networks including ESPN and ABC remain dark on DirecTV amid a carriage feud for a 10th day (and counting).
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DirecTV said in a statement Tuesday, “Unfortunately, returning only Disney’s ABC stations from the entire portfolio of channels for a limited three-hour window will cause customer confusion among those who would briefly see the debate only to lose the channel again shortly after.”
According to DirecTV, the satellite and streaming TV company agreed to return ABC in time for Tuesday’s presidential debate if Disney was also willing to “restore all its channels across platforms” through the end of “Monday Night Football” at 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday, Sept. 16. However, “The Walt Disney Co. flat-out rejected DirecTV’s offer,” according to the pay-TV operator.
“Returning the Disney-owned channels for the next week while we work to reach a new agreement would benefit customers who would regain access to ABC for the debate and the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony [on Sunday, Sept. 15] as well as their favorite college and professional football games on ABC and ESPN, ACC or SEC networks,” DirecTV said.
The Harris-Trump debate is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. ET on Sept. 10. DirecTV noted that its customers “will continue to have access” to the Harris-Trump debate live across other major broadcast networks, including CBS, NBC, and Fox, as well as C-SPAN, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, PBS, NewsNation and other news channels.
The debate will air live on ABC and livestream on the ABC News Live digital channel, Hulu and Disney+, in addition to being simulcast on additional broadcast and streaming channels.
Earlier, Disney said in a statement, “As we announced in May, the ABC News presidential debate will be widely available across broadcast, cable and streaming. Although we have yet to reach an agreement [with DirecTV], we are providing a three-hour feed of ABC News coverage to all impacted DirecTV customers at no cost because we want all Americans to be able to view tonight’s debate at this important moment in our history.” Disney added, “We remain at the table negotiating with DirecTV and the restoration of our programming to their subscribers is completely within their control.”
Disney’s distribution agreement with DirecTV expired Sept. 1, following months of back-and-forth without resolution.
As Disney and DirecTV haggled over terms of the new deal, DirecTV’s more than 11 million satellite and streaming customers have missed a slew of sports programming that aired across ESPN and ABC, including college football, the U.S. Open and the Sept. 9 kickoff of this season’s highly rated “Monday Night Football” telecast.
VIP+ Analysis: Why Disney vs. DirecTV Is a Different Kind of Carriage Battle
Last week, after Disney’s channels went dark, DirecTV announced a price increase set to take effect Oct. 6 that angered customers.
Over the weekend, DirecTV filed a formal complaint with the FCC alleging Disney had failed to engage in good-faith negotiations, citing the media company’s requirement that DirecTV waive legal claims. Disney countered that such agreements are standard (and were actually included in previous renewals with DirecTV), suggesting DirecTV itself was acting in bad faith.
DirecTV has claimed Disney is asking for an exorbitant price increase for its networks, while alleging Disney is not allowing DirecTV to assemble lower-cost “skinny bundles” of TV channels. Disney said it had offered DirecTV multiple options for flexible programming packages, including a sports-centric combo with ABC and ESPN nets.
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