LAS VEGAS — The mob swelled on the “home of the brave,” a Vegas stadium filled with 65,000 fans rising to their feet, an earth-shattering roar continuing to ring in the start of a new college football season with USC-LSU.
At the same moment, hordes of DirecTV customers across America, attempting to tune in from the comfort of air-conditioned homes, saw nothing on their televisions except for a blue-screen error message of death.
“Our contract with Disney, the owner of this channel, has expired,” read a message to users attempting to access the game’s broadcast channel (ABC).
It quickly set off a national uproar, the latest in a TV-network drama saga, after news this week of a dispute between Comcast and the Big Ten Network that will block out live events with the four new Big Ten programs (USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon). And both Disney/ESPN and DirecTV took biting public stances on Sunday afternoon, as fans across the nation were robbed of the viewing pleasure of a tremendous first half in Vegas.
“DirecTV chose to deny millions of subscribers access to our content just as we head into the final week of the U.S. Open and gear up for college football and the opening of the NFL season,” read a joint statement from Disney co-chairs Dana Walden and Alan Bergman and ESPN chairman Jimmy Pataro. “While we’re open to offering DirecTV flexibility and terms which we’ve extended to other distributors, we will not enter into an agreement that undervalues our portfolio of television channels and programs.”
DirecTV said Disney offered an extension to keep the channels on the air in exchange for DirecTV having to waive all future legal claims that its behavior is anti-competitive.
“Disney is in the business of creating alternate realities, but this is the real world where we believe you earn your way and must answer for your own actions,” said Rob Thun, DirecTV’s chief content officer, in a statement widely reported by numerous media outlets. “They want to continue to chase maximum profits and dominant control at the expense of consumers – making it harder for them to select the shows and sports they want at a reasonable price.”
Last year, Disney and Spectrum – the nation’s second-largest cable TV provider – were involved in a nearly 12-day impasse until coming to an agreement hours before the first Monday night NFL game of the season.
DirecTV has 11.3 million subscribers, according to Leichtman Research Group, making it the nation’s third-largest pay TV provider.
Besides all ESPN network channels and ABC-owned stations, Disney-branded channels Freeform, FX and National Geographic channel went dark on DirecTV.
Bear Alexander comes off the bench
When head coach Lincoln Riley posited that USC’s training camp would be “very, very important” for defensive tackle Bear Alexander – after Alexander missed most of spring practice – it seemed something less than a challenge, simply a direct point to Alexander’s status as again one of USC’s most important defensive players in 2024.
In a surprise, though, Alexander was listed as an “OR” starter next to Wyoming transfer Gavin Meyer on USC’s first depth chart of the season Thursday night. And on Sunday, Alexander spent the first play of USC-LSU watching from the bench, as Meyer and Vanderbilt transfer Nate Clifton lined up at defensive tackle.
Riley said Alexander’s progress had “been very positive” on Friday, and Meyer and Clifton both earned praise as veterans in USC’s system in the fall. But his spot on the bench Sunday, and rotational status through an inconsistent snap count in the first half against LSU on Sunday, illustrated that Alexander hadn’t quite shown the consistency coaches preached as necessary from him in the fall.
“Bear has still got a long ways to go,” Riley said Friday.
Alani Noa wins lengthy battle at right guard
Four of LSU’s five offensive linemen have been all but anointed since the close of last season, a unit brimming with chemistry and experience trotting out in the Vegas heat to meet USC’s defensive line on Sunday.
The Trojans’ group, by contrast, has been a constantly twisting Rubik’s Cube that wasn’t publicly solved until red helmets took the field at Allegiant Stadium.
Redshirt freshman Alani Noa, who started at left guard last season in a surprising nod for a true freshman, lined up alongside center Jonah Monheim and right tackle Mason Murphy. It was a return to prominence for Noa, who received widespread buzz during 2023’s training camp before taking a redshirt season as a freshman amid personal issues.
