What you need to know
- DirecTV enters the YouTube TV, Disney content battle chaos, by offering consumers a way to access their favorite content.
- The service highlights its Genre Packs, which brings packaged bundles of entertainment to users through DirecTV Stream for shows, sports, and news.
- YouTube TV and Disney have entered a stalemate in terms of its negotiations, as both sides continue to point fingers.
Amid YouTube TV’s content battle with Disney, DirecTV is throwing its hat into the ring, but not for the reason you think.
In an email to Android Central earlier today (Nov 5), DirecTV highlighted its own content battle with Disney in 2024, and how it solved it for consumers, even now. According to DirecTV, consumers left in the dark by YouTube TV’s ongoing negotiations can hop into its “Genre Packs.” With this pack, it states viewers will find access to shows like Dancing with the Stars and major sports events, like college basketball.
Vince Torres, chief marketing officer at DIRECTV, states, “With options for free TV, specialized Genre Packs, and comprehensive streaming solutions all on our new and improved experience, DIRECTV makes it easy for consumers to watch what they want, how they want, and when they want. Consumers are taking notice and value our new, reliable, and simple streaming experience.”
Torres also states that DirecTV provides a simple, single platform for viewers just looking to watch what they want. Viewers can do this easily, as DirecTV breaks things down into three important categories: MySports, MyNews, and MyEntertainment. Each one focuses on your favorite sports, elections, world news, and the most popular shows on the air.
DirecTV highlights its “five-day risk-free trial,” which makes it easy for consumers who want to see if the service is worth keeping around.
DirecTV shows up with the content
DirecTV was making headlines late in October, as it partnered with Google TV to completely revamp and revitalize TV in hotels. DirecTV wants to bring its new “Advanced Entertainment Platform” (AEP) to hotel rooms, a customizable platform that lets hotels tailor it to their needs. Google TV serves as the backbone to this, bringing the streaming services and apps that visitors will seek to tune into.
More importantly, users can even sign into their hotel TV with their Google account to access their shows. The post states that their information will be wiped to ensure their privacy remains secure.
As far as the YouTube TV angle goes, Disney’s content was on the verge of a total blackout for the former’s viewers late last month. The deadline loomed heavy, as viewers were at risk of losing out on nearly a dozen of Disney’s channels, including ABC and ESPN. At the time, YouTube TV claimed that Disney’s proposition during the negotiations could force it to “raise prices” for consumers. Fingers were quickly pointed the opposite way, as Disney said YouTube TV was “exploiting its position at the expense of their own customers.”
When both sides failed to reach an agreement, those channels swiftly disappeared. Now, we’re completely locked in a stalemate as neither side is willing to budge just yet on a way to return those channels to consumers. The finger-pointing continues; however, as YouTube TV claims Disney has been “unnecessarily aggressive and assertive.’ Disney says the opposite, claiming that YouTube TV has blown the situation out of proportion.
