DirecTV is now paying customers to subscribe to competitors as Disney battle escalates
By Jordan Valinsky, CNN
New York (CNN) — DirecTV wants its customers to stick with the service during an increasingly nasty dispute with Disney that threatens to black out tonight’s “Monday Night Football” game. So DirecTV developed an unusual strategy: It’s paying customers to subscribe to a rival.
DirecTV has struck deals with Sling, owned by rival satellite provider Dish Network, and Fubo to offer its customers credits and discounts to sign up for competing streaming services so people can watch the game, which is airing on ABC and ESPN, two networks blacked out on its own service.
Affected customers of DirecTV, DirecTV Stream and U-Verse can get a free weeklong trial of Fubo for two of its packages that carry ESPN and Disney networks and an additional $30 off the first month of service. DirecTV is also giving its customers a $30 credit to sign up for Sling’s orange tier that includes ESPN channels.
DirecTV said the deals are a “small way” to help customers while its fight over the expired distribution agreement with Disney stretches into a second week. DirecTV is still offering a credit to customers but has increased it from $20 to $30.
On Sunday, DirecTV filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission alleging Disney did not negotiate in good faith and signaling the two sides aren’t close in reaching a deal.
In the 10-page complaint, DirecTV claimed the negotiations stalled because, “Disney insists on bundling and penetration requirements that a federal district court judge in New York recently found in the context of the ‘Venu’ joint venture to be unlawful, anticompetitive, and ‘bad for consumers.’”
Last month, a federal judge temporarily blocked the launch of Venu Sports, a joint sports streaming venture from Disney, Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery after Fubo filed a lawsuit against the media giants. (Warner Bros. Discovery is the parent company of CNN.)
More than 11 million subscribers have been affected by Disney pulling its ABC stations, ESPN and other networks from DirecTV’s lineup last week. The blackout also comes ahead of the upcoming presidential debate on ABC between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, as well as the start of the NFL and college football seasons.
“We continue to negotiate with DirecTV to restore access to our content as quickly as possible,” a Disney spokesperson told CNN. “We urge DirecTV to stop creating diversions and instead prioritize their customers by finalizing a deal that would allow their subscribers to watch our strong upcoming lineup of sports, news and entertainment programming, starting with the return of ‘Monday Night Football.’”
Still, the blackout hasn’t stopped DirecTV’s plans to hike prices of DirecTV Stream and traditional satellite services. Beginning in October, monthly fees will increase between $2 to $10 depending on the tier and service a customer has.
–CNN’s Robert Ilich contributed to this report.
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