DirecTV has accused Disney of failing to operate in good faith in relation to the ongoing carriage dispute between the two companies. The accusation was made in a complaint DirecTV filed with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Saturday.
Following the loss of Disney-owned channels, DirecTV publicly put the blame on Disney, accusing the company of trying to force DirecTV to bundle unpopular channels with popular channels. This is in addition to charging customers for access to its streaming services.
As part of those allegations, DirecTV accused Disney of generally operating in an anticompetitive manner. An accusation which was once again made in the latest FCC complaint. Specifically, DirecTV previously said that, as part of the negotiations, Disney wanted DirecTV to “agree to waive all claims that Disney’s behavior is anti-competitive.” This is what DirecTV now says is in violation of the good-faith mandates set out by the FCC.
The complaint also heavily suggested that a deal won’t be done in the next few days, further suggesting that subscribers are likely to be without access to Monday Night Football and this week’s presidential debate.
Previously, Disney put forward its stance on the situation and DirecTV’s ‘misrepresentation of the facts.’ According to Disney, DirecTV is trying to avoid paying what Disney considers to be a fair price for its services, and has turned down the ‘flexible options’ it claims to have been seeking to begin with.
In a statement to Variety, Disney stated the lasted move is a tactic commonly used by DirecTV and that it continuing to negotiate with DirecTV to get the channels restored. In the statement, Disney also urged DirecTV “to stop creating diversions and instead prioritize their customers by finalizing a deal.”
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