Good News, Bad News for DIRECTV STREAM After Disney Dispute – Technologist

After a two-week hiatus, the Disney-backed TV channels have returned to DirecTV and DIRECTV STREAM.

The popular live TV streaming and satellite TV company announced on Saturday, Sept. 14 that it has resolved its contract dispute with Disney to return popular channels like ESPN and Disney Channel to its services.

DirecTV customers had been without access to those channels since Sept. 1, when the previous contract agreement between the two sides expired. It left thousands of football fans without a way to watch their favorite team’s games.

The new contract agreement allows those customers to get back to “business as usual” with their fall streaming TV plans, but there are a few things on the horizon that are worth noting. And not all of them are good.

Good News: Channels Are Restored and New Collaborations Are Coming

If you’ve made it through this two-week mess without canceling your DIRECTV STREAM subscription, you may be rewarded for your patience and understanding.

Not only did DirecTV restore your missing channels and offer you monetary compensation for the inconvenience, they also announced that the new agreement with Disney may provide some pretty cool opportunities for subscribers in the future.

There were two additional announcements tucked into the press release from the agreement announcement that should catch the attention of subscribers: 

• Disney’s direct-to-consumer streaming services (Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+) to be included in select DIRECTV packages under a wholesale agreement, and also to be made available on an a la carte basis.
• The rights to distribute Disney’s upcoming ESPN flagship direct-to-consumer service upon its launch at no additional cost to DIRECTV customers.

Though a quick glance at DIRECTV STREAM’s website gives no indication of an immediate impact, those two bullet points indicate some potential additional value for subscribers in the future.

Access to The Disney Bundle (Disney+, Hulu (on-demand) and ESPN+) as a part of a DirecTV subscription would provide an additional $14.99 of value to the monthly subscription. This perk would match the benefits of Hulu + Live TV, which currently offers The Disney Bundle as an inclusion on its base subscription.

Additionally, access to ESPN’s upcoming direct-to-consumer service at no additional cost to DIRECTV STREAM subscribers could be another big value. This service, which is expected to launch in 2025, does not yet have a monthly subscription price.

Bad News: DIRECTV STREAM Is Raising Prices In October

It may not surprise you to learn that you’ll be paying more for DIRECTV STREAM coming out of this agreement.

Though the announcement from DIRECTV indicated there would be no price increases as a result of the agreement, that is actually a matter of semantics.

DIRECTV STREAM announced a price increase on all four of its subscription tiers amid the blackout. So, technically, it wasn’t a result of this new agreement. Presumably, they baked that agreement into the new cost in advance of finalizing it.

Effective October 6, 2024, DIRECTV STREAM packages will see the following price increases:

Existing subscribers likely have been notified of this change already, but potential new subscribers need to be aware of this before deciding to sign up at existing prices.

Already considered one of the most expensive options on the live TV streaming market, this price increase may be a tough pill for some customers to swallow.

I spoke to a couple of DIRECTV STREAM customers who were frustrated by the timing of this price hike announcement. They were already upset that ESPN channels were temporarily removed from the service, and receiving a price increase notification amid that blackout drove them to cancel service and seek out alternative live TV streaming options.

Unfortunately, these price increases have become a regular reality for streaming TV consumers. For example, Hulu + Live TV and Philo also recently announced price increases.

Will you be staying with DIRECTV STREAM following all of this drama? Will the price hike chase you out? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the Clark.com community.

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