‘Plenty of Options’: Disney Steers DirecTV Customers to Dish, Hulu, YouTube TV and More as Blackout of Channels Including ESPN and ABC Hits Day 6
Disney — whose networks have been dark on DirecTV since Sept. 1 amid a carriage dispute — on Friday launched a campaign to alert DirecTV customers that they have “plenty of options” to get ABC, ESPN and others from rival providers.
The message reads, “Hey DirecTV customers! Missing your favorite ABC and ESPN programming! No need to worry.” It continues, “There are plenty of options to get every channel you love from one of these providers” — listing Dish Network and Sling, YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, Comcast’s Xfinity, Charter’s Spectrum TV, Fubo, Cox, Optimum and Mediacom.
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Disney’s graphic features ESPN’s “Monday Night Football,” which kicks off Sept. 9 with the Jets-49ers matchup, the U.S. Open tennis tournament on ESPN, and ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” “9-1-1,” “Abbott Elementary” and “ABC World News Tonight With David Muir.”
The Mouse House’s campaign is par for the course in such TV distribution feuds. And the messaging, coming on day 6 of the Disney blackout on DirecTV, signals that the two sides are not close to reaching a new deal at this point.
Disney is sharing the call to action across Facebook and Instagram social accounts for its networks and streaming services, including those for ABC, NatGeo, Disney+ and ESPN.
(Pictured, top: U.S. tennis player Frances Tiafoe, who will take on fellow American Taylor Fritz in a men’s semifinal match Friday night at the 2024 U.S. Open in New York)
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