Millions of DirecTV subscribers missed out on the Monday Night Football game between the San Francisco 49ers and New York Jets Getty DirecTV has been involved in a carriage dispute with Disney since September 1 Getty Many NFL fans are now asking for refunds from the satellite TV provider Getty
There are increasing fears that the rift could last the entire 2024-25 NFL season.
And now DirecTV subscribers have began to ask for their money back.
“So, as a @DIRECTV customer, I have lost @espn on my channel lineup,” one fan wrote on Twitter/X.
“I also pay to have @espn to see games that aren’t on ‘tv’. Now I can’t see those either?
“Hey @espn i want a refund if I can’t stream ESPN+ games either. It’s a little ludicrous.”
Veteran sports broadcaster Chris Myers added: “Is directv offering refunds since they are not broadcasting abc/espn etc over there dispute with Disney?
“It’s been a week now.”
As happened a year ago, DirecTV has been left without ESPN and ABC networks after the parent companies Charter and Disney failed to reach an agreement on a new distribution deal.
Since then, DirecTV viewers were unable to watch the latter stages of the US Open and now college football and the NFL.
Unfortunately for NFL fans hoping for an end to the blackout in the near future, the outlook appears bleak.
On Saturday, a complaint was filed against Disney by DirecTV to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), as per CNN .
“Disney has violated the FCC’s good faith mandates by predicating any licensing agreement on DirecTV’s waiving any legal claims on Disney’s past, current, or future anticompetitive actions, including its ongoing packaging and minimum penetration demands,” a spokesperson for DirecTV told the outlet.
In response, Disney said on Sunday that they were continuing “to negotiate with DirecTV to restore access to our content as quickly as possible.
“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.”
There are fears the rift could last the entire NFL season Getty Many fans missed out on Jason Kelce’s debut on MNF Getty
Along with ESPN networks, other channels affected include the Disney Channel, Freeform, National Geographic, and local news stations on the ABC network.
Disney made a late bid to give impacted DirecTV customers a three-hour ABC News live feed to watch the debate.
But the satellite provider rejected the proposal.
“We remain at the table negotiating with DirecTV and the restoration of our programming to their subscribers is completely within their control,” a Disney spokesperson said in a statement.
DirecTV responded: “Returning only Disney’s ABC stations from the entire portfolio of channels for a limited three-hour window will cause customer confusion among those who would briefly see the debate only to lose the channel again shortly after.”
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