Atlanta Braves fans know the feeling all too well. You can’t watch the big game because your cable/satellite/streaming provider is feuding with the network over more money. So the game (at least at your house) is canceled.
Now it’s DirecTV subscribers’ turn to suffer.
Disney, which owns ESPN, pulled its programming from DirecTV because the satcaster/streamer wants to move some networks, namely ESPN, to a separate bundle, which would lower costs for some DTV subscribers. But Disney, which makes lots of money from subscriber fees, isn’t keen on that plan. The dispute held up finalizing a deal on a new contract, and now Disney channels, including ESPN, is offline or DTV subscribers.
DTV subs found out the worst way they were about to be without the 24-hour sports network: during the last moments of the U.S. Open late Sunday, and minutes before the long-awaited LSU vs OSU game. Now those subs could face an undetermined amount of time without college or pro football. Locally, that could potentially mean not seeing the Monday Night Football game featuring the Atlanta Falcons vs. the Philadelphia Eagles on September 16 or any upcoming Georgia Bulldogs, Georgia Tech, or other SEC or ACC games if this dispute doesn’t end.
Sports fans caught in the middle of this battle are understandably pissed off, as the all-too-familiar direction this is going is that weeks and months will go on without viewers seeing their games, then a deal will be made between the two sides, and the viewer is rewarded for his patience with an increase in their cable bills.
As of 9 pm Tuesday, nothing has changed. The Mouse House says they have no intentions of striking deals “That undervalues our portfolio of television channels and programs,” and DirecTV says they want to offer “smaller, more tailored packages” to subscribers, rather than the “fat bundles” that companies like Disney profit from but consumers and providers loathe. There is no immediate word as to when a deal between DTV and Disney could be reached.
DirecTV is offering a credit for subscribers missing out on Disney channels. Click here for more info.