DirecTV and Disney’s public squabble intensifies as Monday Night Football is set to air on ESPN and ABC

Just before the start of Monday Night Football, tensions in the ongoing contract battle between cable provider DirecTV and the Walt Disney Company have ratcheted up another notch, and a resolution is not yet in sight—meaning that millions of Americans may be unable to watch tonight’s game.

DirecTV and Disney are currently struggling to negotiate a new carriage agreement, which is essentially the terms on which a pay-TV service agrees to broadcast a content provider’s shows and channels. This Saturday, DirecTV filed a complaint against the Walt Disney Company to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), alleging that Disney is not negotiating in “good faith” and is making “anti-competitive demands.”

The complaint comes after all Disney-owned channels housed on DirecTV—including ABC and ESPN, where NFL games are streaming—went dark last week due to the ongoing carriage dispute.

“The negotiations have stalled because Disney insists on bundling and penetration requirements that a federal district court judge in New York recently found in the context of the ‘Venu’ joint venture to be unlawful, anticompetitive, and ‘bad for consumers,’” DirecTV’s FCC complaint reads. “Disney wants to force DIRECTV to carry a ‘fat bundle’ including less desirable Disney programming—while itself offering cheaper, ‘skinnier’ bundles of programming that consumers want.”

Disney responded to DirecTV’s complaint in a statement to Fast Company.

“We continue to negotiate with DirecTV to restore access to our content as quickly as possible,” the company said. “We urge DirecTV to stop creating diversions and instead prioritize their customers by finalizing a deal that would allow their subscribers to watch our strong upcoming lineup of sports, news and entertainment programming, starting with the return of Monday Night Football.”

Viewers left without channels

The blackout is now headed into its second week, and the companies have not been able to sort out their differences ahead of tonight’s game between the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Jets. DirecTV users with ESPN+ will still be able to view the coverage, but those without it will have to turn to another streaming or cable service like Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, or YouTube TV and perhaps incur a significant subscription cost if they want to view the game.

If the dispute continues through this week, viewers may face similar streaming challenges with upcoming college football games on Thursday and Friday. A DirecTV spokesperson has confirmed that tomorrow’s presidential debate will still be available to users through “several multicasts.”

The back-and-forth is just the most recent chapter in the companies’ squabble, during which DirecTV has previously alleged that Disney is chasing “maximum profits and dominant control at the expense of consumers,” while Disney has fired back with the assertion that “​​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.”

As DirecTV and Disney continue to spend time publicly airing out their grievances, viewers will have to search for other ways to enjoy the content they signed up for.