ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit tossed some shade at DirectTV amid the satellite provider’s stalemate with the cable network’s parent company, Walt Disney Co.
‘Knew @YouTubeTV would pay off,’ the football analyst wrote on X, suggesting he won’t miss any action on ESPN or ABC amid the ongoing blackout. ‘Good call to my 4 boys.’
Walt Disney Co. networks, including ESPN and ABC stations, were removed from DirectTV after negotiations between the satellite company and media giant collapsed on Sunday. The blackout impacts around 11 million customer homes.
Making matters worse for DirectTV subscribers was that the blackout began immediately before USC’s highly anticipated win over LSU on Sunday night. Furthermore, the NFL season is set to begin this week and ESPN is also carrying the ongoing US Open from Queens, New York.
In the aftermath of the blackout, both DirectTV and ESPN blamed each other for the fiasco.
Kirk Herbstreit tossed shade at DirectTV amid the satellite provider’s stalemate with ESPN
ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro released a joint statement with Disney executives Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, claiming ‘DirecTV chose to deny millions of subscribers access to our content just as we head into the final week of the US Open and gear up for college football and the opening of the NFL season.’
DirectTV Chief Content Officer Rob Thun shot back in a statement of his own: ‘The Walt Disney Co. is once again refusing any accountability to consumers, distribution partners, and now the American judicial system.’
In its press release, DirectTV accused Disney of an ‘anti-consumer approach’ that forces ‘DirectTV and other TV distributors… to pay for channels they don’t watch.’
Other broadcasts that could be impacted are ESPN’s Monday Night Football, which premiers on September 9 when the San Francisco 49ers face the New York Jets.
Also, ABC affiliates owned directly by Disney have also been pulled from DirectTV, which could result in viewers missing local news, their favorite game shows like ‘Wheel of Fortune’ and talk shows such as ‘Good Morning American’ and ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live.’
From left, Pat McAfee, Nick Saban and Kirk Herbstreit talk on ESPN College Gameday
Disney networks, including ESPN, have been blacked out on DirecTV amid ongoing stalemate
A similar dispute between Disney and Spectrum TV ended in a 12-day blackout in 2023, but that may not offer any indication of what how long this blackout could last on DirectTV.
Fans online were split over whom to blame.
‘@DIRECTV Fix it now or you’re losing a long time (sic) customer,’ one wrote on X. ‘Sports is all I watch. Missing my Braves game on my holiday weekend.’
Another added: ‘Yup I’ll be canceling my @DIRECTV asap.’
Others blamed Disney.
‘This keeps happening with disney channels,’ wrote on critic. ‘That’s why I’m disappointed every time ESPN gets extensions on the playoffs.’
Pay-TV continues to face problems with canceled subscriptions. The industry lost 2.4 million subscribers in the first quarter of 2024.
Disney is known for charging distributors $10 per subscriber per month for ESPN’s array of networks – revenue that the media giant uses to buy league media rights.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk