DirecTV files FCC complaint against Disney for blocking

CNN
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DirecTV filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission on Saturday alleging that Disney did not negotiate in good faith as the two sides remain at an impasse over a distribution deal.

“Disney violated the FCC’s good faith principles by making each licensing agreement contingent on DIRECTV waiving all legal claims with respect to Disney’s past, present or future anticompetitive conduct, including its ongoing packaging and minimum penetration requirements,” a DirecTV spokesperson told CNN on Sunday.

In the 10-page complaint, DirecTV claims negotiations have stalled because “Disney insists on bundling and penetration requirements that a federal district judge in New York recently found to be illegal, anticompetitive and ‘bad for consumers’ in connection with the ‘Venu’ joint venture.”

On August 16, a federal judge temporarily blocked the launch of Venu Sports, a joint sports streaming venture between Disney, Fox Corporation and Warner Brothers Discovery, after Fubo, a sports streaming service, filed suit against the media giants. Warner Brothers Discovery is the parent company of CNN.

More than 11 million subscribers are affected by Disney’s removal of its ABC channels, ESPN and other cable networks from DirecTV last week. The suspension came ahead of the upcoming presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on ABC, the final rounds of the U.S. Open tennis tournament and the start of the NFL season. ESPN owns the broadcast rights to “Monday Night Football,” which will be blocked for DirecTV subscribers unless an agreement is reached.

“We continue to negotiate with DirecTV to restore access to our content as quickly as possible,” a Disney spokesperson told CNN on Sunday. “We urge DirecTV to stop creating distractions and instead put its customers first by entering into a deal that allows their subscribers to watch our strong upcoming lineup of sports, news and entertainment programming, starting with the return of Monday Night Football.”

DirecTV subscribers were denied access to Disney-operated local ABC stations in six major media markets – New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston and San Francisco – as well as the smaller markets of Fresno, California, and Raleigh, North Carolina.

The inaugural Monday Night Football game features the New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers. In 2023, the first Monday Night Football game – a matchup between the Buffalo Bills and the Jets – drew 22.64 million viewers, the largest audience of the ESPN era dating back to 2006.

The blocking also affects ESPN’s suite of channels, as well as Disney Channel, Disney Jr., FX and National Geographic.