Report: DIRECTV Could Lose Disney, ESPN This Sunday In Carriage Row

By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man –Follow me on X.

DIRECTV could lose the Disney suite of channels, including ESPN, if it doesn’t reach a new agreement by Sunday, September 1, reports Bloomberg News. A Disney channel blackout would affect DIRECTV Stream and U-verse as well.

Update: DIRECTV Loses Disney Channels In Carriage Fight

The article says DIRECTV wants to change the current contract that calls for the satcaster to charge subscribers for Disney channels regardless of whether they watch them or not. The TV provider wants to modify those terms so it could offer smaller packages based on categories such as children’s, local stations, sports and news.

The argument is similar to the one pushed in September 2023 by Charter’s Spectrum TV in its carriage fight with Disney. After an 11-day blackout, Disney agreed to some changes including permitting Spectrum TV to stop carrying some channels.

The pay TV industry, which has lost millions of subscribers in the last decade to cord-cutting, is seeking to reinvent the program bundle to attract cost-conscious consumers who have turned to streaming. Disney and other networks have been resistant because fewer subscribers to their channels means fewer carriage fees.

Bloomberg says DIRECTV and Disney have not commented on its report.

The loss of the Disney channels on DIRECTV would come at a bad time for both companies with the college football season underway and the NFL season less than two weeks from starting. ESPN and ABC both carry both college and NFL games including Monday Night Football.

The Disney basic cable channels that could be blacked out are: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, ESPNU, ESPN News, SEC Network, ACC Network, FX, FX Movie Channel, FXX, Freeform, National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Mundo, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, and BabyTV.

In addition, the following Disney-owned local networks could be removed: ABC7 Chicago, ABC7 Los Angeles, ABC7 New York, ABC7 San Francisco, ABC11 Raleigh-Durham, Philadelphia 6ABC,, ABC13 Houston, and ABC30 Fresno.

The TV Answer Man will monitor this situation and report back here if anything significant changes.

John Ourand first reported on a possible DIRECTV/Disney dispute in his newsletter published by Puck.

The TV Answer Man is veteran journalist Phillip Swann who has covered the TV technology scene for more than three decades. He will report on the latest news and answer your questions regarding new devices and services that are changing the way you watch television. See the bio for Phillip Swann here.

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