Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS, ETR:WDP) has been accused of negotiating in bad faith over American football broadcasting deals with DirectTV.
Broadcaster DirecTV (NASDAQ:DTV) filed a complaint with America’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Saturday after a spat with Disney saw the streaming giant’s channels pulled from its network earlier this month.
Previous negotiations between the two had seen DirectTV ask Disney for the option to offer cheaper streaming bundles which excluded channels viewers may not be interested in.
However, Disney has requested an agreement which would prevent DirecTV (NASDAQ:DTV) from making any legal claims over anticompetitiveness, which the company argued violated FFC rules.
Disney’s move to pull channels from DirecTV on September 1 meant viewers were unable to watch college football and the final week of the US Open tennis tournament.
This included Disney-owned ESPN and ABC stations, leaving DirecTV’s 11.5 million subscribers set to miss the first National Football League (NFL) Monday night game between the New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers.
DirecTV accused Disney of “anticompetitive demands” in Saturday’s 10-page complaint, alongside highlighting the “clean slate provision” and “covenant not to sue”.
“[These] are intended to prevent DirecTV from taking legal action [...] which would include filing good faith complaints at the commission,” DirecTV said.
“Not three months ago, however, the Media Bureau made clear that such a demand itself constitutes bad faith.”