Disney Blocks ESPN, ABC & More From Millions of Directv Customers

well currently if you're a Direct TV customer you are blocked from all of the Disney owned properties which can cause quite the issue as football season is just now starting up and there's lots of people that are going to be left in the dark wanting to watch their favorite games and other content so we have an article here from The Verge that talks about this issues so we're going to read this article and giv some thoughts on it so hi I'm Jared with capture the magic and again from The Verge here the article says Disney blocks ESPN ABC and other channels for millions of Direct TV subscribers a carriage dispute between the companies has blocked Direct TV from broadcasting all Disney owned channels just ahead of the upcoming NFL season and also I would mention college football as well says Disney owned channels including ABC and ESPN were pulled from Direct TV's lineup on Sunday after talks to reach a new distribution deal between the companies collapsed the blackout started Midway through ESPN's broadcast of the US Open tournament uh tennis tournament and just ahead of the NFL season opener this coming weekend Direct TV and Disney are both blaming each other for causing the blackout the only thing for certain is that Direct TV's roughly 11 million subscribers are the ones suffering Direct TV says it's pre being prevented from offering more flexible packages that can more closely cater to Consumer interest and that Disney is hurting consumers away from Network TV by shifting content to Disney owned streaming services like Hulu and Disney plus Disney is also accused of including a last minute demand to wave all claims that its behavior is anti-competitive according to direct TV the Walt Disney Company is once again refusing any accountability to Consumers distribution partners and now the American Judicial System Rob th Chief content officer at DirectTV said Disney is in the business of creating alternate realities but this is the real world where we believe you earn your way and you must answer for your own actions they want to continue to chase maximum profits and dominate control of at the expense of consumers well that much is true making it harder for them to select the shows and sports they want at a reasonable price Disney meanwhile says its channels are worth a premium that Direct TV is refusing to pay while we're open to offering Direct TV flexibility in terms which we've extended to others we will not enter into an agreement that undervalues our portfolio television channels and programs we invest significantly to deliver the number one Brands and entertainment news and sports because that's what our viewers expect blah blah blah we urge Direct TV to do what's in the best interest of their consumers or their customers and finalize a deal that would immediately restored our programming the deal that expired on Sunday was negotiated in 2019 these contracts are typically made to intentionally expire during periods of peak viewership as an incentive for both parties to renegotiate uh nevertheless Carriage disputes are fairly common Disney pulled a similar move on the same day last year when it blocked its channels for Charter Spectrum subscribers in the middle of the US Open that blackout lasted for 12 days before a new deal was reached so Direct TV has a point here so one of the things ES ESPN and I don't know if this is still the case I know it was for the longest time but whether or not you actually got ESPN like any basically like every package of cable had ESPN included because out of every let's say you were paying $50 for your your cable out of every single subscriber I believe ESPN at one point was getting like 10 20 $15 something like $20 something per subscriber they were getting money regardless because ESPN was so big so part of it is that but at the same time uh Direct TV does have a point because they're probably trying to create packages that maybe don't include ESPN or lesser versions of it or different things like that because again you have a lot of people that are switching to streaming and then also you fact too that Disney now has an ESPN app they have a Hulu they have all these other things and they're actively pushing people to those apps so Direct TV is sitting there basically saying that Disney is is not being a fair player in this because they're trying to charge a maximum price to Direct TV and other cable companies while it's so because they you know have a de in demand product so that ideally they want Direct TV to be paying top dollar for access to the Disney you know properties meanwhile Disney is actively pushing their own platforms offering it at a lower cost to get people to go over there so Direct TV has a point here and that Disney is trying to play this game where they W they still want to be part of this cable world and they want to charge a lot of money for it because they have historically gotten that but at the same time they're trying to get all their streaming stuff to really grow so they're being caught and and pushing one you know this way by also having their hand in the cookie jar here so I see Direct TV's point the problem with this is again during football season uh given ESPN when it comes to college football and pro football it be in a hard spot here because if they don't get this resolved they will lose customers likely because people like to watch their football and they like to watch their Sports so I I would say this probably gets resolved here in a few days I believe with the Spectrum deal there was something that where Disney gave Spectrum customers access to the Disney uh like streaming services because Spectrum had the same argument that Direct TV has here we could see a similar deal here with Direct TV to where you know Direct TV customers get access to Disney Plus Hulu all these other things and then Disney at the same time can then boast up higher uh you know streaming customer for for Disney Plus Hulu and all this they can they can they can claim higher numbers of subscribers whether or not those subscribers are paying or they're free they're still just going to you know show how many sub subscribers they have on that so that could be a deal we get with this but I would I'd be shocked if this this hold out here goes out very long considering just the leverage that Disney has in this situation but it doesn't change the fact in the future ongoing obviously cable is shrinking and the real test of this will be eventually this deal will come up with Comcast Comcast is still the biggest cable operator out there and Comcast and Disney do not get along obviously Disney is buying the last third of Hulu from Comcast and when it comes to theme parks Comcast is the parent company of universal so Universal Studios is a big competitor to Disney World and it been no bones that these two companies don't like each other in fact when Bob Iger bought 20th Century Fox uh as actually Comcast CEO at the time Brian Roberts stepped in and basically placed a bid that forced Disney to pay more so I think at the time Disney was going to pay I can't remember it like 30 to 50 billion dollars or maybe it was 30 billion I think Comcast maybe came in and said they would pay 50 which then forced Disney they went up to $70 billion so essentially Comcast forced Disney to pay more for Fox which I don't think Comcast ever had any anticipation of buying it I think they just wanted to raise that price up which they did so these two companies don't like each other Comcast a lot of Leverage as Disney does obviously when it comes to sports and things like that but cable is shrinking Comcast has recognized that Disney knows this so I think the one with Comcast could be next year in the few coming years that'll be an interesting one to play out because I imagine we could see the same scenario where Disney is going to basically block out Comcast customers we'll have to wait and see how that one shakes out because that one could be pretty contentious but as of right now I think Direct TV they will probably they'll they'll strike some deal I'm not going to be surprised if it's very similar to the Spectrum deal in Direct TV customers get you know Disney plus and all those things like that but as of right now if you are a Direct TV customer um you are unable to watch the Disney stuff right now so uh I suppose Disney just wants you to go sign up on Disney plus and their stuff to solve that problem which could be a ploy of the there's as well uh when talking about this but that's going to be it for this video If you like this video please like it and subscribe to the channel as we do lots of coverage here of pop culture and theme parks and let us know in the comments what do you think about this and do you think this issue gets resolved to Direct TV rather soon or do you think this lingers on for a while and until next time we will see you later [Music] is it