As ESPN Goes Dark for Subscribers, DirectTV Dangles $20 Rebates

DirecTV is offering $20 rebates to subscribers, one of the latest moves in a quickly escalating battle between the satellite carrier and ESPN parent company Walt Disney Co. 

As Disney channels, including ESPN, are now dark on the No. 3 U.S. pay-TV distributor, DirecTV is now offering a small rebate to its subscriber base, estimated at more than 11 million. If every subscriber took advantage of the offer, that would represent a return of more than $220 million to consumers. The rebates will be in the form of a bill credit.

Disney, meanwhile, issued another statement bashing DirecTV on Wednesday, in part a response to the carrier’s lengthy presentation to analysts the previous day. 

“DirecTV continues to misrepresent the facts around our ongoing negotiations,” Disney said in a statement attributed to ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro and Disney Entertainment co-chairs Dana Walden and Alan Bergman. “Our priority is to reach a marketplace deal that serves the needs of DirecTV and their customers while also recognizing the value of our top-quality content.”