• by Wayne Friedman , August 28, 2024

A more aggressive DirecTV is looking to revamp its longtime carriage deal with Walt Disney -- with the ultimate goal of offering much smaller bundles of TV networks versus what the pay TV provider has been offering for decades, according to reports.

Justin Connolly, president of Disney Platform Distribution, says the company has offered “flexible options” to the big pay TV satellite/virtual pay TV service. But it has yet to hear back from DirecTV.

Analysts speculate this might mean DirecTV making a deal with Disney for a smaller number of TV networks in its new carriage-renewal agreement.

If no deal is reached, DirecTV -- still a major legacy TV pay provider with an estimated 11 million subscribers -- could go dark this week, with ABC Television Network and ESPN off the air for DirecTV subscribers.

DirecTV representatives did not respond to Television News Daily inquiries by press time.

Rob Thun, chief content officer of DirecTV, in a recent blog post voiced his opposition to sports-focused streaming service Venu Sports, a joint venture of Walt Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox Corp. He said the Venu Sports venture was “antitrust” and “monopolistic.”

Earlier this month, sports-focused Fubo was granted a preliminary injunction by a U.S. District Court in New York to stop Venu Sports, which was scheduled to launch this fall with a price tag of $42.99.

In the blog post, Thun also said consumers want lower-cost “skinnier” bundles, with “flexible” TV network packages. 

This story has been updated.