US cable TV carrier DirecTV has filed a complaint against media giant Disney with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as the carriage dispute between the companies escalates.
DirecTV has accused Disney of negotiating in bad faith as the parties struggle to strike a renewed distribution deal after several weeks of discussions.
With an agreement still yet to be reached, the first Monday Night Football of the new NFL American football season between the New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers - carried by ESPN and ABC - was blacked out for most of the 11 million DirecTV subscribers yesterday (September 9).
Last year, Disney and Charter Communications were involved in a similar dispute but eventually resolved their differences on the first Monday of the NFL regular season.
On this occasion, however, it appears the fight between Disney and DirecTV is unlikely to be resolved quickly, with the impasse becoming more heated having entered its second week.
In its 10-page complaint to the FCC, first obtained by the Associated Press, DirecTV says that Disney is violating the FCC’s good faith mandates by asking it to waive any legal claims on any anticompetitive actions, including its ongoing packaging and minimum penetration demands.
DirecTV has asked Disney for the option to provide consumers with cheaper and smaller bundles of programming, instead of bigger bundles that carry programming some viewers might not be interested in.
The cable network’s chief executive Ray Carpenter said last week that they would not agree to a new carriage deal with Disney without bundling changes.
The complaint states: “Along with these anticompetitive demands, Disney has also insisted that DirecTV agree to a ‘clean slate’ provision and a covenant not to sue, both of which are intended to prevent DirecTV from taking legal action regarding Disney’s anticompetitive demands, which would include filing good faith complaints at the commission.
“Not three months ago, however, the Media Bureau made clear that such a demand itself constitutes bad faith.”
Disney-owned ABC, its ABC affiliate networks, ESPN, and others were all removed from DirecTV on September 1 after the previous carriage deal between the two expired, plunging millions of households into a Disney broadcast blackout amid the onset of the college football season and the final week of tennis’ US Open grand slam.
Over the past week, DirecTV and Disney have each issued statements blaming the other for the failure to come to what would have been a multi-billion-dollar licensing renewal.
This dispute is the latest flashpoint in the war between the Venu Sports joint-venture (JV) partners and the coalition of cable carriers and TV services in opposition.
Disney, alongside Fox Corp and Warner Bros. Discovery, is a joint partner in the proposed combined sports streaming service that took a major blow last month (August 19) when Judge Margaret Garnett of the New York Southern District Court blocked Venu’s launch.
Garnett upheld claims from internet TV service Fubo that Venu would limit consumer choice, enable price gouging, and impinge on the ability of Venu’s rivals to do business competitively.
DirecTV has supported Fubo in this endeavor and in May, co-signed an open letter to US congressional representatives urging hearings into Venu Sports and pay-TV competition due to the JV partners’ conduct.
