By Brian Steinberg
ESPN Networks, ABC and Disney Channels Go Black on DirecTV on Busy Sports Night
Don't count on next week's premiere of a new season of ESPN's "Monday Night Football" to put a quick end to the current broadcast dispute between DirecTV and Walt Disney Co.
DirecTV CFO Ray Carpenter told investors Tuesday that the satellite distributor is prepared to stand firm against Disney's current stance in a blackout that began last weekend and will keep ESPN, Disney Channel and other Disney properties off the company's service for the foreseeable future. "We haven't drawn any dates in the sand," Carpenter said, noting that DirecTV "isn't playing a short-term game."
Disney faces another major distributor eager to create new models as more consumers abandon traditional services like the ones it operates and switch to streaming hubs, many of which are operated by Disney and its traditional media rivals. Around this time last year, Disney was involved in a similar dispute with major cable distributor Charter Communications, which resulted in an agreement that pulled Disney-owned outlets like Freeform from Charter’s service.
