Bars around Austin still carrying SEC football games amongst DirecTV ESPN blackout

AUSTIN (KXAN) – If you plan on watching the Longhorns take to the football field at your favorite bar, you may need to call ahead of time.

A carriage dispute between media giant Disney Entertainment and TV provider DirecTV has left DirecTV customers without access to ESPN, and in turn, without access to SEC football games. That’s the conference that the Longhorns are in.

This Saturday’s game against Michigan is an outlier as it will be broadcast on FOX.

This isn’t the first time this has happened. This year’s dispute mirror’s a dispute from last year, when ESPN went dark on DirecTV during the U.S. Open tennis tournament and during the first weekend of college football.

A number of sports bars around Austin appear to be unaffected by the blackout, however. That includes the likes of Doc’s Backyard in southwest Austin, who over the phone, said they would be carrying this Saturday’s game against the University of Michigan.

Downtown joints like The Tavern and the Little Woodrow’s on 6th street have notes on their websites about being able to watch the game there.

It’s unclear when Disney and DirecTV could come to a deal, leaving the TV providers 11 million customers not only unable to catch their favorite games, but also unable to watch any other Disney owned channels.

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