Disney Pulls ESPN, ABC, and More Channels from DirecTV. Everything You Need to Know
Just before kickoff of the highly anticipated college football game between LSU and USC on Sunday night, DirecTV subscribers were left unable to watch the game, or any of the Disney-owned channels. Shortly after 4:00 p.m. PT (7:00 p.m. ET) on Sept. 1, Disney removed all of its programming channels — including ESPN, ABC, Hulu, Freeform and FX — from the DirecTV satellite service.
Disney’s decision to remove its programming appears to stem from a dispute over its licensing agreement with DirecTV. On Sunday night, Disney stated “She will not enter into an agreement that undervalues our portfolio of television channels and programs.”
Part of the dispute could be related to a collective antitrust case against Disney. In a statement sundayDirecTV objected to agreeing to “waive all claims that Disney’s conduct is anti-competitive” in all agreements and warned of Disney’s “last-minute demands to exclude any legal liability for its growing pattern of anti-competitive actions.”
Redditors in the r/tennis subreddit on Sunday reported on the sudden blackout of US Open tennis coverage due to the loss of ESPN. One Redditor complained that they were on a JetBlue flight when the channels stopped working — JetBlue uses DirecTV for its in-flight streaming TV service.
Which viewers are affected by the Disney Channel outage on DirecTV?
In its statement Sunday, DirecTV said that “millions of DirecTV, DirecTV Stream and U-verse customers” lost access to Disney programming channels. That programming includes Disney Plus, ESPN, ABC, Hulu, Freeform and FX. According to StatisticsDirecTV had 11.3 million subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2023.
When will Disney channels return to DirectTV?
This year’s feud between Disney and DirecTV brings with it a bit of football season déjà vu. Last year, on August 31, Spectrum TV viewers suddenly lost access to Disney programming due to another licensing dispute.
Disney and Spectrum eventually settled their differences, but that wasn’t until September 11th. Because this licensing dispute is different, there’s no indication yet whether DirecTV viewers will have ESPN streaming again by the time the 49ers host the Jets for the first Monday Night Football game on September 9th.
How else can DirecTV subscribers watch ESPN, ABC, and other Disney channels now?
Now that Disney channels are part of DirecTV, subscribers can use other streaming services to replace that programming. Both of CNET’s top-rated streaming services — YouTube TV and Hulu Plus Live TV — offer all of the major Disney channels that were removed from DirectTV, including ABC, ESPN, Disney Plus, Disney Junior, Disney XD, Freeform, FX and National Geographic.
YouTube TV’s basic subscription costs $73 per month and offers a 21-day trial periodin case you expect Disney and DirecTV to resolve their differences in the coming weeks. Hulu Plus Live TV costs $77 per month and offers a three-day trial period.
Fubo’s basic plan includes all the major Disney channels like ESPN, FX, and ABC. It costs $80 per month, though there is a seven-day free trial and the The first month is currently only $50Similarly, SlingTV offers most of the Disney channels through its basic Sling Orange package, which $15 for the first month and $40 per month thereafterbut if you want to get your local ABC affiliate, you’ll need to add Sling Blue or extend your TV coverage with an over-the-air antenna.
Will DirecTV subscribers be compensated for the loss of Disney programming?
If you’re a DirecTV subscriber affected by the loss of the Disney programming channels, you may be eligible for a credit from the satellite TV company. support page for missing tv channelsDirecTV says the acknowledgement is “a small way we can acknowledge the disruption and compensate for the temporary inconvenience while we work to bring the channels back into your offerings.”
To see if you qualify for a DirecTV credit, visit the company’s website TV promise page, choose your TV service from the drop-down menu, enter your postcode and click Search Query to see. If the site says you qualify for credit, visit the Discover invoice credits on the TV Promise page to select the appropriate button to claim your compensation.
