Key Points
- DIRECTV subscribers can still stream Stanley Cup Final games via ESPN despite a carriage dispute with the E. W. Scripps Company.
- The blackout affects local ABC affiliates, but access is preserved through the ESPN app for authenticated DIRECTV users.
- Scripps says it is seeking fair compensation to support local news, sports and emergency coverage.
An ongoing dispute between the E. W. Scripps Company and pay TV provider DIRECTV will not impact hockey fans who want to watch the Stanely Cup Final in areas where Scripps owns the local ABC affiliate, as long as they’re willing to stream the games instead.
On Tuesday, The Desk confirmed all Stanley Cup Final games broadcast by ABC and ESPN will be available through the ESPN app for DIRECTV’s satellite and streaming customers who have ESPN as part of their pay TV subscription — even in areas where a customer’s local ABC affiliate is otherwise unavailable due to DIRECTV’s ongoing dispute with Scripps.
That affirmation should bring some relief to DIRECTV subscribers who are local fans of the Vegas Golden Knights — the ABC affiliate in Las Vegas, KTNV (Channel 13), is owned by Scripps — who won’t be able to watch the games via DIRECTV’s satellite or streaming platform directly but will still have access to the tournament via the ESPN app when they log in with their DIRECTV credentials.
Hockey fans in other cities where Scripps owns the local ABC affiliate — Bakersfield, Tallahassee, Tampa, Detroit, Denver, San Diego, Waco, Grand Junction, Boise, Tucson and Lexington — will also have access to the Stanley Cup games through the ESPN app with their DIRECTV credentials while the dispute plays out.
Given the availability of the games on the ESPN app, sources familiar with the ongoing negotiations between DIRECTV and Scripps said the Stanley Cup tournament said there was less pressure to forge a deal before the puck drops Tuesday evening.
DIRECTV said Scripps is demanding “the highest rates we’ve ever seen” in exchange for the privilege of reselling access to its local network-affiliated stations on satellite and streaming. The money DIRECTV and other pay TV distributors shell out for the right to offer subscribers access to local and national channels is often passed on to consumers in their bills.
Scripps didn’t dispute it was seeking a fee increase, instead telling viewers it was seeking a fair rate for its channels.
“Scripps remains committed to reaching a fair resolution that restores our local stations to DIRECTV’s paying subscribers,” Scripps said in a statement to The Desk on Tuesday. “At stake is our viewers’ fundamental access to trusted local journalism, critical weather alerts, emergency information and live sports programming that strengthens community bonds – all essential public interest content in which Scripps invests substantially every day.”
Separately, in an interview with the sports publication Awful Announcing, Scripps CEO Adam Symson denied the broadcaster’s recent financial investments in bringing locally-televised sports to some of its stations was a motivating factor in seeking higher fees from DIRECTV.
“I don’t really think they care about the work we do in the local communities and that local people actually rely on, whether it’s local news or local sports,” Symson said, according to the outlet. “Rather than rationalize their lineups and end the carriage and payment for a bunch of zombie channels owned by bigger multibillion-dollar conglomerates that have leverage over them, they are screwing with the consumer and what the consumer actually wants to watch, which is broadcast television, local journalism and local sports.”
The scourge of bloated pay TV bundles is something DIRECTV has worked to address over the past few years. Following a dispute with the Walt Disney Company over carriage of ESPN and other channels, DIRECTV won a key concession from that broadcaster — and, eventually, others — that allowed it to launch several genre-based packages on its streaming platform that gives consumers some flexibility in paying for channels they want while still preserving the unit economics that allow the pay TV and broadcasting industries to continue generating revenue for their businesses.
Those same packages aren’t available to satellite subscribers largely because broadcasters and programmers have declined to opt-in to them, according to people familiar with the arrangements. The reason? Traditional TV packages still account for the largest share of fees from distributors, while streaming continues to be viewed as more of an experiment, the people said. In April, a lawyer representing DIRECTV in an federal antitrust lawsuit affirmed less than 10 percent of the company’s pay TV subscribers opt for its streaming packages, and even fewer are signed up for its genre-based bundles.
More Stories
- Scripps channels dropped from DIRECTV after carriage contract expires
- DIRECTV, broadband groups ask FCC to block Scripps acquisition of Inyo stations
- Gray Media, Scripps finalize station swaps
- Scripps narrows Q1 loss as local TV revenue offsets decline at national networks
- Scripps channels restored to Comcast’s Xfinity TV under new deal
