Millions Of DIRECTV Subscribers Have USC-LSU Game & US Open Tennis Blacked Out As Disney Contract Expires

Come on, y'all. This is why you get YouTube TV. Although that service hasn't been perfect and has threatened to shut customers out from certain channels/content, in the end the negotiating parties have agreed to stave off a disaster scenario like what just happened on DIRECTV. Those non cord-cutters who subscribe particular cable/TV distributor got a rude awakening on Sunday — during a holiday weekend, no less! — when the LSU-USC game on ABC and the US Open tennis on ESPN was abruptly blacked out. That was due to the expiration of their contract with those channels' parent company, Disney. ESPN released a statement on the matter, as it appears they're using the moment to give their leverage the ol' full-court press. https://twitter.com/ESPNPR/status/1830383618201633156 Just look at how much of a bummer this experience was for the tennis — and from what I gather, the blackout occurred before LSU-USC even kicked off: https://twitter.com/BaseballThomasB/status/1830380777605140519 Not that many of the marquee top-25 matchups in this college football Week 1 have been that good, but the Trojans and Tigers give us some hope. LSU is just on the fringe of the newly minted 12-team College Football Playoff picture as the AP's 13th-ranked team. Not a surprise to see USC barely in the top 25 (23rd) since they're replacing Caleb Williams. However, Lincoln Riley's schematic savvy on offense should always make them a factor as they make their Big Ten football debut. Remember Sloane? The young lady who supplanted Hawk Tuah as the coolest viral on-street interviewee on the Internet not long ago? She said that her man could be a total degenerate gambler and he would still be an "8" to her, but that if he was betting on the ACC, he'd be a "3." We're talking scale of 1 to 10 desirable here. https://twitter.com/notkdk3/status/1828778097153564821?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw If that abomination of a Georgia-Clemson game was any indication, Sloane's right, by the way. And I can't believe how well all these narrative threads just connected in real time. https://twitter.com/On3Recruits/status/1829986272791670835 My heart goes out to the men who were merely trying to follow Sloane's blueprint of acceptable standards by parking themselves in front of the telly to bet the daylights out of this game. Us college football heads just wanted a good ranked duel that didn't look as ugly as that Texas A&M-Notre Dame abomination from Saturday. Literal millions of people won't be able to watch unless they hoof it to a local non-DIRECTV bar in their neighborhood, or they make the immediate jump to snip the cord and join us forward thinkers at YouTube TV. ...Or I suppose you could go the illegal route. Would not recommend! https://twitter.com/KingJosiah54/status/1830392138410217606