How DirecTV customers can watch ESPN and ABC sports programs amid dispute (2024)

Leadership at the Walt Disney Co. and DirecTV are at odds over who’s to blame for reaching the point of the blackout of ABC and ESPN networks.

Who’s to blame doesn’t change the fact that key sports channels are indeed dark for DirecTV customers going into Week 1 of the NFL season, Week 2 of college football and key rounds of the U.S. Open Tennis Championships.

DirecTV customers and others looking at short-term alternatives in case the battle goes into the weekend are in luck, though. Good ones do exist with special offers for new users:

• FuboTV (free trial) - excellent viewer experience with huge library of live sports content; free trial lengths vary; monthly rate after trial starts at $79.99.
• SlingTV (low intro rate) - discounted first month is best if you’ve run out of free trials or you’re in the market for 1+ month of TV. That intro month typically costs around $30.
• ESPN+ ($10.99/mo.) - best standalone in the industry for delivering live college football; ESPN+ carries only select CFB games that air on ABC and ESPN. The ManningCast broadcasts of Monday Night Football games air on ESPN+.

The sides have a matter of days before a week of great significance in the sporting world takes off. Notably, the NFL is set to play its first “Monday Night Football” of 2024 on ABC and ESPN on Sept. 8 between the . An alternative broadcast is available for that one on ESPN+, which is a $10.99 monthly standalone with tons of college football.

The ABC/ESPN blackout on DirecTV began Sunday night midway through a USC-LSU college football game and extended through Monday’s Round of 16 at the U.S. Open and into Tuesday. The threat is real that the outage means even more significant tennis, football and other top sports and entertainment programming could be inaccessible on DirecTV Stream.

So, what’s a customer to do? Here’s a look at a quick calendar of top sporting events for the week and options to watch in the absence of DirecTV’s services.

U.S. OPEN TENNIS

• TV channels: ABC, ESPN and ESPN+
• Live streams: FuboTV (free trial) | Sling (low intro rate) | ESPN+ ($10.99/mo.)

Men’s and women’s quarterfinal matches begin at noon ET and run through an 8:30 p.m. ET matchup between No. 9 Grigor Dimitrov and Frances Tiafoe. All four quarterfinals will air on ESPN, while action in men’s, women’s and mixed doubles will stream on ESPN+.

All future quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will air on the ABC/ESPN family of networks. Those remain available with introductory offers from FuboTV and Sling.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

• TV channels: ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ACC Network, SEC Network
• Live streams: FuboTV (free trial) | Sling (low intro rate) | ESPN+ ($10.99/mo.)

The college football schedule takes the biggest hit among all sports looking to find a DirecTV alternative. But each game on the ESPN family of networks will be available on FuboTV (free trial) and Sling (low intro rate). That includes college-specific network ACC Network and SEC Network.

Those games are as follows:

FRIDAY, SEPT. 6

7:00 p.m.: BYU at SMU on ESPN2

SATURDAY, SEPT. 7

12:00 p.m. ET: Arkansas at #17 Oklahoma on ABC and ESPN+

12:00 p.m.: #18 Kansas State at Tulane on ESPN

12:00 p.m.: Georgia Tech at Syracuse on ACC Network

12:00 p.m.: Pittsburgh at Cincinnati on ESPN2

12:00 p.m.: Troy at Memphis on ESPNU

12:00 p.m.: McNeese at #20 Texas A&M on SEC Network

3:30 p.m.: California at Auburn on ESPN2

3:30 p.m.: South Carolina at Kentucky on ABC and ESPN+

3:30 p.m.: Charlotte at North Carolina on ACC Network

4:00 p.m.: UTSA at Texas State on ESPNU

4:15 p.m.: Middle Tennessee at #6 Ole Miss on SEC Network

7:00 p.m.: South Florida at #4 Alabama on ESPN

7:00 p.m.: Virginia at Wake Forest on ESPN2

7:30 p.m.: #14 Tennessee at #24 NC State on ABC and ESPN+

7:30 p.m.: Alcorn State at Vanderbilt on ESPNU

7:45 p.m.: Houston at #15 Oklahoma on SEC Network

8:00 p.m.: Appalachian State at #25 Clemson on ACC Network

10:15 p.m.: Liberty at New Mexico State on ESPN2

10:30 p.m.: Mississippi State at Arizona State on ESPN

NFL FOOTBALL

• Live streams: FuboTV (free trial) | Sling (low intro rate) | ESPN+ ($10.99/mo.)

MONDAY, SEPT. 9

8:20 p.m. ET: Monday Night Football: New York Jets at San Francisco 49ers on ABC, ESPN and ESPN+

Both sides had their say in this ESPN vs. DirecTV dispute, which follows a previous issue Disney had with Charter Spectrum in 2023 that lasted two weeks.

“The Walt Disney Co. is once again refusing any accountability to consumers, distribution partners, and now the American judicial system,” said Rob Thun, chief content officer at DirecTV, in a statement. “Disney is in the business of creating alternate realities, but this is the real world where we believe you earn your way and must answer for your own actions. They want to continue to chase maximum profits and dominant control at the expense of consumers – making it harder for them to select the shows and sports they want at a reasonable price.”

Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, co-chairmen of Disney Entertainment, and Jimmy Pitaro, chairman of ESPN, put out their own joint statement on the dispute:

“DirecTV chose to deny millions of subscribers access to our content just as we head into the final week of the US Open and gear up for college football and the opening of the NFL season,” the statement read. “While we’re open to offering DirecTV flexibility and terms which we’ve extended to other distributors, we will not enter into an agreement that undervalues our portfolio of television channels and programs. We invest significantly to deliver the No. 1 brands in entertainment, news and sports because that’s what our viewers expect and deserve. We urge DirecTV to do what’s in the best interest of their customers and finalize a deal that would immediately restore our programming.”