Disney is hitting back at DirecTV after the satellite television provider held a conference call with media and analysts on Tuesday to outline its position in the broadcast dispute.
As a result of the dispute, many Disney channels, including ABC and ESPN, were shut down for millions of DirecTV customers on September 1, in the midst of the U.S. Open and ahead of the NFL season.
DirecTV Chief Financial Officer Ray Carpenter said Tuesday the company is pushing for more flexible options for its customers, including “lean, genre-based” packages that let customers choose the content they want to pay for. Those packages are bundled by genres such as news, family and sports, and come with different pricing tiers for those options. During the call, Carpenter suggested Disney had resisted that idea.
Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, co-chairmen of Disney Entertainment, and Jimmy Pitaro, chairman of ESPN, said that was not the case.
“DirecTV continues to misrepresent the facts of our ongoing negotiations. Our priority is to reach a marketplace agreement that meets the needs of DirecTV and its customers while recognizing the value of our high-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 parties, especially the consumer,” the statement said.
According to a Disney spokesperson, Disney has offered DirecTV a number of tailored packages, including a sports-centric offering with ESPN and ABC, an entertainment-based option and linear offerings tied to Disney’s direct-to-consumer subscription services.
The spokesperson added that Disney’s proposed pricing is “consistent with other distributors in the market” and that Disney has also offered options to connect DirecTV’s platforms with Disney’s streaming services.