DirecTV files complaint against Disney with FCC as impasse enters second week

The standoff between DirecTV and Disney over a new carriage deal has heated up as it entered its second week.

DirecTV filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission on Saturday night accusing Disney of negotiating in bad faith.

Disney channels, including ESPN and ABC-owned stations in nine markets, have been off DirecTV since the evening of September 1.

That meant DirecTV customers couldn’t watch most college football games and the final week of the US Open tennis tournament, including the women’s and men’s finals.

DirecTV has 11.3 million subscribers, according to Leichtman Research Group, making it the third largest TV provider in the country.

ABC and ESPN will have the Monday Night Football opener between the New York Jets and the San Francisco 49ers. ABC will also produce and carry a presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on Tuesday in Philadelphia.

ABC-owned stations in Los Angeles; San Francisco Bay Area; Fresno, California; New York; Chicago; Philadelphia; Houston; and Raleigh, North Carolina, are off DirecTV.

In addition to all ESPN network channels and ABC-owned stations, Disney-branded Freeform, FX and National Geographic channels are blacked out.

DirecTV says in its 10-page complaint that Disney is violating the FCC’s good faith mandates by requiring it to waive any legal claims for any anticompetitive actions, including its continuous packaging and minimum penetration requirements.

DirecTV has asked Disney for the option to offer consumers cheaper and weaker programming packages, instead of larger packages containing programs some viewers may not be interested in watching.

The complaint states: “Along with these anticompetitive claims, Disney has also insisted that DirecTV agree to a ‘clean offer’ provision and a covenant not to sue, both of which are intended to prevent DirecTV from taking legal action regarding with Disney’s anticompetitive claims, which would include filing good faith complaints with the Commission. However, not three months ago, the Media Bureau made it clear that such a request in itself constitutes bad faith.”

DirecTV CEO Ray Carpenter said during a conference call with business and media analysts on Tuesday that they would not agree to a new carriage deal with Disney without packaged changes.

“We’re not playing a short-term game,” Carpenter said. “We need something that will work for the long-term sustainability of our video customers. The determination is there.”

Disney has maintained since the outage began that mutual release of claims is standard practice after licensing agreements are negotiated and agreed to by the parties. It also had one with DirecTV under its past renewals.

A Disney spokesperson said: “We continue to negotiate with DirecTV to restore access to our content as soon as possible. We call on DirecTV to stop creating diversions and instead put their customers first by finalizing an agreement that would allow their subscribers to watch our robust upcoming lineup of sports, news and entertainment, starting with the return of Monday Night Football.

Last year, Disney and Charter Spectrum — the nation’s second-largest cable television provider — were engaged in a nearly 12-day standoff until they reached an agreement hours before Monday night’s NFL season opener.