Leading up to the second weekend of the new college football season – before any other SEC, ACC, or Big 12 fans miss a favorite team’s games — DIRECTV Head of State & Local Affairs Hamlin Wade sent letters to each of the Chancellors, Presidents, and Commissioners of the SEC, ACC, and Big 12, seeking their support in allowing alumni, students, and fans to obtain more flexible programming packages and lower-priced options to watch future games.
“Fan loyalty is at the core of our mission: We want to offer maximum choice and value by empowering fans to choose the content they want at lower price points, not forcing them to accept a bloated bundle of expensive channels they don’t watch,” Mr. Wade wrote. “Instead of digging in their heels and demanding the status quo, we need Disney to work with us to create more flexible options that better serve today’s consumer preferences.”
The Walt Disney Co. splits media rights to the Big 12 with Fox Corp., so fortunately non-Disney channels will have several stronger games this weekend, including Iowa State at Big Ten foe and state rival Iowa (CBS); Baylor at Utah (FOX); Kansas at Big Ten’s Illinois (FS1); Colorado at Big Ten’s Nebraska (NBC); and Texas Tech at Washington State (FOX).
The prospects are unfortunately much darker for SEC and ACC schools and their fan bases since Disney now wields complete control over all conference media rights and, therefore, can stop its universities’ fans from passing the video turnstiles whenever it wants. That’s a new development for the SEC, and something fans will need to endure over the next decade. Disney paid $3 billion to ensure exclusivity over SEC athletics, which begins this football season and lasts for ten years. The University of Texas and University of Oklahoma had played in the Big 12 before this season, so their games would have otherwise remained available, but Disney has left Longhorns and Sooners who subscribe to DIRECTV in the lurch this fall. UT-Austin’s relocation to the SEC also led to Disney terminating its prior Longhorn Network before this season began.
Disney also operates the SEC Network as a joint venture with the conference, and millions in lost licensing fees from DIRECTV or other distributors will cost each school major private funding, adding pressure for public monies to make up any gaps. Disney’s exclusive partnership with the ACC and its ACC Network operate very similarly.
Football season means blackout season for Disney, which threatened or blocked games from DIRECTV customers in fall 2024, Charter Spectrum in fall 2023, DISH Network in fall 2022, both YouTubeTV and Mediacom in 2021, and back to both DISH and DIRECTV in fall 2019.
“Disney’s actions have denied alumni, students, and fans the simple pleasure of cheering on their favorite teams and reinvesting their loyalties into these universities,” Wade wrote to school administrators. “This (flexibility and choice) will help guarantee the public, whose taxes and tuitions help pay for the public universities in your conference, access to the content they love and deserve.”
DIRECTV is asking each Chancellor or President of their respective SEC, ACC, or Big 12 institution to work with their fellow school leaders, Commissioners and elected officials to empower fans and push for greater flexibility in the marketplace. This will help guarantee the public, whose taxes and tuitions help pay for several of America’s most prominent public universities that make up the majority of these conferences, better access to state schools and the teams representing them who they love and deserve.
Read the letters:
