There are signs of progress in the AT&T Inc. and The Walt Disney Co. carriage dispute as the parties have remained in discussions throughout the weekend. The negotiations have occurred without any disruption in service for the programmer's owned TV stations and cable properties.
Despite a series of warnings that AT&T subscribers could potentially miss college football action on ESPN Inc. networks, the Sept. 14 slate of games appeared without incident. ESPN (US) began warning the distributor's customers about a possible disruption, via commercials that first aired on its Sept. 9 "Monday Night Football" doubleheader. The parties never specified when their contract was set to expire. However, some reports indicated it was slated to conclude late on Sept. 13.
An AT&T spokesman on the morning of Sept. 15 said that negotiations are continuing, but declined further comment, Disney did not immediately respond to inquiries.
The carriage disputes encompasses eight ABC (US)-owned stations, including WABC-TV in New York, KABC-TV in Los Angeles and WLS-TV in Chicago; the ESPN networks; Freeform (US); Disney Channel (US); Disney Junior (US); and Disney XD (US). On Sept. 13, the Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference, whose networks are operated by ESPN, tweeted that fans could miss football game action. The SEC Network (US) and ACC Network (US), as well as fare on the other services listed above continued to be accessible on DIRECTV and U-verse platforms, as well as the streaming service AT&T NOW, formerly DIRECTV NOW, as of press time.
As of 6 p.m. ET on Sept 14, messaging about fans potentially missing college football continued to run on the Bottom Line on ESPN and sister services, underneath such game action and other sports programming. That practice ceased later that night.
Disney also had been running commercials during the week indicating that ESPN's presentations of the Kentucky/Florida college football clash, the New York Jets/Cleveland Browns "MNF" match-up, "SportsCenter" and "First Take" "could all soon be gone." It also pushed viewers to call an 888-number "to make sure you keep getting the networks you are paying for." That number -- 888-741-4388 -- is now disconnected.
Moreover, communications on Disney's website that warned AT&T and DIRECTV customers that they may soon lose access to programming on ABC-owned stations, ESPN, Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD and Freeform has been replaced by a solicitation for viewers go watch those channels on various providers, including DIRECTV and AT&T NOW.
Conversely, AT&T's website still refers to the Disney dispute and its disappointment that customers had been placed in the middle of negotiations.
