MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Over the weekend, millions of DirecTV customers saw channels like ABC and ESPN go dark, limiting access to the U.S. Open and the start of college football season and more. Well, those channels are still dark because of a contract dispute with Disney, which pulled its platforms from DirecTV's services, all this is affecting more than 11 million customers. NPR TV critic Eric Deggans was on a call with DirecTV officials this morning. He joins me now. Hey there.
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: Hi.
KELLY: Hi - sounds like there are a whole lot of grumpy sports fans out there. Why...
DEGGANS: That's one way to put it.
KELLY: ...Is this disruption happening right now?
DEGGANS: Well, as with so many things in media, it is all about the Benjamins. You know, it's all about money. So more specifically, it's about how two different companies are dealing with businesses that are declining. Like, viewers are spending less time with traditional broadcasters, cable channels, satellite services. And they're cutting the cord with providers like DirecTV because they worry that they're paying too much for too many channels that they're not watching. Now, Disney, on the other hand, benefits when providers like DirecTV carry all their channels even if a customer might only want the bigger ones like, say, ESPN. So this is the heart of what makes cable and satellite TV work. You use the popularity of big channels to help pay for the smaller channels that might have smaller audiences.
KELLY: Tell us more about this call today. There were journalists, obviously, like you on there, also business analysts. What did DirecTV officials actually have to say?
DEGGANS: Well, DirecTV CFO Ray Carpenter did not hold back in criticizing Disney. He accused the company of charging more for linear broadcast and cable channels despite shrinking viewership and accused them of shifting financial resources to their streaming services like Disney+ and Hulu. Now, according to the CFO, DirecTV's major issue is getting the flexibility to offer customers these skinny bundles, they call them, that gather together a smaller group of channels grouped by genre - like, say, sports or kids' TV - so that consumers can pare down the number of channels that they're paying for.
KELLY: OK. Well, is Disney sounding remotely receptive to this?
DEGGANS: Well, I haven't yet heard directly from Disney about what DirecTV said today, but Disney released a statement on Sunday that said in part, quote, "while we're open to offering DirecTV flexibility in terms which we've extended to other distributors, we will not enter into an agreement that undervalues our portfolio of television channels and programs." Now, they've created a website called keepmynetworks.com to explain their side of the story for customers. And you might remember that Disney got into a similar dispute with the company Charter Communications last year that saw over two dozen Disney-owned channels yanked from that service for more than 10 days.
KELLY: OK. Well, there's an urgency to this dispute. I live with a couple of teenagers who were glued to the start of college football or trying to be. What is your sense of timing? When might this dispute be resolved?
DEGGANS: Well, you know, DirecTV CFO Carpenter - he said the company would battle for, quote, "as long as it needs to," end quote. But, you know, costs will increase on both sides as this important programming like college football in the NFL rolls out. I mean, DirectTV has created its own website. It's called unbundledisney.com. They lay out their arguments. They're also offering a $20 fee credit to some customers. Ironically, because it's so easy to start using a streaming service, some of those consumers can probably sign up for platforms like YouTube TV or the Disney-owned Hulu Plus Live TV to see some of the channels that went dark. Now, consumers of cable and satellite TV services - they're going to have to expect to see more of these fights in the future. And ultimately, I think it's going to lead to a system where there's fewer channels offered on cable and satellite systems both to keep the cost down and also to make it easier for customers to sort through all this content.
KELLY: That is NPR TV critic Eric Deggans. Thank you, Eric.
DEGGANS: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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