The Walt Disney Company has released a new statement regarding the dispute with DirecTV.
What’s Happening:
- On September 1st, many Disney Channels, including ABC and ESPN, were no longer available to millions of DirecTV customers.
- On Tuesday, DirecTV's Chief Financial Officer, Ray Carpenter, said that the company is asking to provide its customers with more flexible choices, such as "skinny, genre-based" packages.
- These packages would allow customers to select the specific types of content they wish to pay for, organized by genres and each associated with varying price tiers.
- During the call, Carpenter suggested Disney had been “resistant to the idea”.
- Dana Walden and Alan Bergman (co-chairmen, Disney Entertainment) and Jimmy Pitaro (chairman, ESPN) stated that was not the case and released a statement saying:
- “DirecTV continues to misrepresent the facts around our ongoing negotiations. Our priority is to reach a marketplace deal that serves the needs of DirecTV and their customers while also recognizing the value of our top-quality content and the significant investment required to create and acquire it. We believe there is a path to a fair and flexible agreement that strikes this critical balance and works for all sides, especially the consumer.”
- A Disney spokesperson also stated that the company has provided several packages to DirecTV, which include a sports-focused option featuring ESPN and ABC, an entertainment-oriented choice, and linear offerings that pair with Disney's direct-to-consumer subscription services.
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