Why You Can Trust CNET
Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Reviews ethics statement
It seemed like DirecTV viewers might be out of luck for tonight's presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, but Disney has announced that it will temporarily give DirecTV subscribers three hours of access to ABC News tonight to watch the debate.
In an email to CNET, Disney said, "Although we have yet to reach an agreement, we are providing a three-hour feed of ABC News coverage to all impacted DirecTV customers at no cost because we want all Americans to be able to view tonight's debate at this important moment in our history."
On Sept. 1, Disney removed all of its TV channels from the DirecTV service due to a dispute over licensing agreements. This year's contract dispute between Disney and DirecTV echoes a similar outage last year on Spectrum TV. Though last year's disagreement was mostly about licensing prices, this year's conflict seems to run a bit deeper.
On Saturday, DirecTV filed an FTC complaint against Disney, claiming that the entertainment company is "insisting on bundling and penetration requirements that were recently found to be unlawful, anticompetitive, and "bad for consumers" by a federal district court judge." DirecTV is offering subscribers a billing credit for the loss of Disney programming and recently boosted that credit from $20 to $30.
There's no indication yet of when the contract dispute between Disney and DirecTV might be resolved. Read on to learn how to claim the billing credit and everything else you need to know about the Disney-DirecTV contract dispute.
Which viewers are affected by the Disney channel outage on DirecTV?
In its statement on Sept. 1, 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.
DirecTV subscribers with local ABC affiliate stations that aren't owned by Disney will continue to receive their local ABC channel via satellite service, but ABC will not be available via streaming.
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. 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.
As mentioned above, if your local ABC affiliate is not owned by Disney, you will still receive your local channel via satellite but not via streaming with the DirecTV app, excepting the three-hour window on Sept. 10 to watch the presidential debate.
How can DirecTV subscribers get money back for the loss of Disney programming?
If you're a DirecTV subscriber affected by the loss of the Disney programming 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.
CNET research indicated that the initial billing credit was $20, but DirecTV has since increased the amount to $30. It should be applied to a future DirecTV bill.