The Standoff Reshaping Sports

EPISODE 147: Carriage disputes.

If you’re not up to speed on sports business, you should be aware that something unprecedented is happening.

DirecTV — otherwise known as a “distributor” of television programs — has decided to wage a land war against Disney: obviously one of the most powerful television “programmers” in America.

But that’s not the new part; distributors have stopped carrying channels like ABC and ESPN while negotiating new contracts with Disney before. Such things are known as “carriage disputes.”

The new part is that this particular carriage dispute has lasted into NFL season.

Meaning that for the first time, a distributor has dared to withhold an episode of the most popular show in America from their own customers. The very show that has consistently enabled programmers to defeat distributors in these negotiations in the past.

Which is why, on this edition of The Sporting Class, we summon the only podcaster who has personally navigated this specific multi-billion-dollar dynamic: John Skipper, co-founder of Meadowlark Media — and the former president of ESPN. Alongside Nothing Personal’s David Samson: the former president of the Miami Marlins. And a man I knew would be immediately horrified upon walking into our studio.

DKN/YOUTUBE SPOILER ALERT:

Happy Friday,

Pablo