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Disney and DirecTV’s Clash Over Proposed Bundle Options Explained

Photo from Erik McLean via Unsplash

Disney and DirecTV’s Clash Over Proposed Bundle Options Explained

By Movieguide® Contributor

DirecTV and Disney are still struggling to come to an agreement as they continue carriage renewal discussions. 

“They have not engaged in earnest on proposals we’ve made to them,” Justin Connolly, President of Disney Platform Distribution, told Deadline, referring to talks about customized channel packages. “They’re trying to lay the blame for their lack of investment in their platform at the feet of programmers.”

However, Chief Content Officer of DirecTV Rob Thun says negotiations have been influenced by the recent shut-down of Disney’s joint sports-streaming platform Venu, launched in partnership with Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery. Movieguide® previously reported:

The launch of ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery’s Venu Sports, dubbed “the future home of sports streaming,” has been temporarily blocked after Fubo, a smaller sports streaming platform, requested a preliminary injunction.

Per ESPN, “United States District Judge Margaret M. Garnett in the Southern District of New York said in her 69-page ruling Friday that Fubo was likely to be successful in proving that the joint venture would violate antitrust laws and that Fubo and consumers would ‘face irreparable harm in the absence of an injunction.’”

“U.S. Judge Margaret Garnett noted that the three companies control about 54% of all U.S. sports rights, and at least 60% of all nationally broadcast U.S. sports rights,” CNBC said.

“There is significant evidence in the record that the true figures may be even larger,” Garnett said “This means that alone, Disney, Fox, and [Warner Bros. Discovery] are each significant players in live sports licensing, who otherwise compete against each other both to secure sports telecast rights and to attract viewers to their live sports programming. But together, they are dominant.”

“I think they thought they would just waltz through the trial and go on their merry way,” Thun said. “They planned to box everybody out.”

In a blog post about the ruling, Thun wrote, “We disagree with Venu’s anti-competitive strategy and believe that TV distributors should have the same flexibility to thrive alongside DTC services by offering genre-based packages that extend beyond sports to include locals, entertainment, news, family, movies, and others.”

“Pay TV subscribers have been declining because of our collective failure to evolve to meet consumer preferences, not due to external forces,” his post continued. “Without fundamental change, costs will continue to soar, consumer satisfaction will erode, and the entire ecosystem will suffer.”

Connolly told The Hollywood Reporter DirecTV is “trying to spin and push this narrative that they want to explore more flexible, skinnier bundles, and that we refuse to engage on that, and bottom line: That is blatantly false.”

“I also think that they’re trying to spin this narrative around DirecTV being a public service for the consumer,” he continued. “But the reality is, DirecTV is a private equity play, and this isn’t a public service for them.”


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