ESPN, Disney, and ABC Have Now Vanished from DirecTV

Many DirecTV and U-verse subscribers are upset to find channels like Disney, ESPN, and ABC have vanished! Why is this change happening, and what compensation can subscribers expect?

Disney, ESPN, ABC Go Dark

Disney and its family of networks are available to many viewers through various subscription services. In fact, many people access Disney’s products such as ABC, ESPN, and Disney Channel through DirecTV, U-verse, and DirecTV Stream. DirecTV is a popular provider in the United States. It has around 11.5 million subscribers.

September 1, 2024 brought about a shocking occurrence for DirecTV subscribers. Many channels unexpectedly vanished in the middle of or ahead of highly anticipated programming. All Disney-owned channels including ABC, ESPN, FX, and so much more just would not work for subscribers.

This timing is terrible as many subscribers undoubtedly had plans for television viewing on this holiday weekend, especially with college football kicking off. Access was interrupted before the LSU-USC game. Subscribers who were trying to tune in undoubtedly thought something was wrong with the TV. However, this is a service disruption that affects all subscribers.

Why is This Happening

This is happening because of a dispute between Disney and DirecTV. A similar issue last year happened for Spectrum users. You can read about the service disruption HERE and the resolution HERE.

Essentially, DirecTV and Disney cannot come to an agreement. And, customers are the ones suffering.

Disney made a statement concerning the issue. “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. While we’re open to offering DirecTV flexibility and terms which we’ve extended to other distributors, we will not enter into an agreement that undervalues our portfolio of television channels and programs.” And, “We urge DirecTV to do what’s in the best interest of their customers and finalize a deal that would immediately restore our programming.“

What DirecTV is doing for Customers

DirecTV, of course, points to The Walt Disney Company for the issues stating, “They want to continue chasing maximum profits and dominate control at the expense of customers-making it harder for them to select the shows and sports they want at reasonable prices.”

DirectTV says customers affected will be eligible for a credit.

DirectTV is offering eligible customers a credit for this disruption. You can see if you qualify by heading to the website HERE. Hopefully, the dispute will be settled for customers sooner rather than later. When this happened with Spectrum, the outage lasted for 11 full days.

Are you affected by the dispute between DirectTV and Disney? Let us know, and be sure to pass this along to those you know who are affected so they can get their credits.