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Right before kickoff of the highly anticipated college football matchup between LSU and USC on Sunday night, DirecTV subscribers found themselves unable to watch the game, or any TV channels owned by Disney. Shortly after 4 p.m. PT (7 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 it "will not enter into an agreement that undervalues our portfolio of television channels and programs."
Part of the dispute could be related to a class-action antitrust lawsuit against Disney. In a statement Sunday, DirecTV aired its objection to agree to "waive all claims that Disney's behavior is anti-competitive" in any agreements and warned against Disney's "last-minute demands to foreclose upon any legal accountability for its growing pattern of anti-competitive actions."
Redditors in the r/tennis subreddit on Sunday reported on the sudden outage of US Open tennis coverage due to the loss of ESPN. One redditor lamented they were on a JetBlue flight when the channels stopped working -- JetBlue uses DirecTV for its on-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 include Disney Plus, ESPN, ABC, Hulu, Freeform and FX. According to Statista, DirecTV had 11.3 million subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2023.
When will Disney channels return to DirectTV?
The beef between Disney and DirecTV this year brings a bit of football season déjà vu. Last year, on Aug. 31, Spectrum TV viewers suddenly lost access to Disney programming due to another licensing agreement dispute.
Disney and Spectrum eventually resolved their differences, but it took until Sept. 11. Since this licensing agreement dispute is different, there's no indication yet if DirecTV viewers will have ESPN back by the time the 49ers host the Jets for the first Monday Night Football game on Sept. 9.
How else can DirecTV subscribers watch ESPN, ABC and other Disney channels now?
Now that Disney channels are off DirecTV, subscribers could utilize other streaming services in order 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 base plan costs $73 a month and offers a 21-day trial, in case you're expecting Disney and DirecTV to resolve their differences in the next few weeks. Hulu Plus Live TV costs $77 a month and offers a three-day trial.
Fubo's base plan includes all of the major Disney channels like ESPN, FX and ABC. It runs $80 a month, although there is a seven-day free trial and the first month currently only costs $50. Similarly, SlingTV provides most of the Disney channels through its base Sling Orange package, which costs $15 for the first month and $40 a month thereafter, but if you want your local ABC affiliate you'll either need to add Sling Blue or augment 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 proramming channels, you could be eligible for a credit from the satellite TV company. On its support page for missing TV channels, DirecTV says that the credit is "a small way to acknowledge the disruption and make up for the temporary inconvenience while we work to bring the channels back to your lineup."
To see if you qualify for a DirecTV credit, visit the company's TV Promise page, pick your TV service from the drop-down menu, enter your ZIP code and hit Search to see. If the site says that you're eligible for a credit, visit the Explore bill credits section of the TV Promise page to select the correct button to claim your compensation.