DIRECTV’s Slimmed-Down Channel Lineups: What Could Be Included

DIRECTV customers will be able to watch “Monday Night Football” on ESPN this week, as the satellite and live TV streaming company struck a new carriage deal with Disney over the weekend restoring all Disney-owned channels to its airwaves. DIRECTV executives get to do a little football-spiking of their own, as the company won a key concession from Disney in the deal: the ability to include Disney channels in slimmed-down bundles of networks that don’t force customers to pay for dozens of channels they won’t watch. We’ll speculate on what the construction of those packages could be below!

Key Details:

• DIRECTV has gotten Disney’s consent to create three smaller-sized packages — sports, entertainment and kids and family.
• Channels not owned by Disney will also be included in these packages.
• Prices could range between $20 and $55 per month, depending on the package.

Potential DIRECTV Genre-Focused Channel Lineups:

Disney granted DIRECTV permission to create three genre-based bundles of channels which will include its networks. Those bundles will be based on the themes of entertainment, kid and family, and sports, and are also likely to include on-demand streaming options from Disney, as the carriage deal also includes a similar distribution agreement to the one Disney signed with Charter Communications in 2023.

The smaller channel packages will not consist solely of Disney-owned networks, but that will probably still require some more negotiations. DIRECTV will likely ask for similar deal terms with all major programmers going forward as it fleshes out its channel bundles. Since full terms of carriage and retransmission deals are kept confidential, it is possible that some contracts already allow for these types of provisions. But one way or another, networks from NBCUniversal, Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery, and others are basically guaranteed to be included.

I think these packages will hold around 10 to 15 channels each, though it’s important to note that they may look very different when DIRECTV officially announces them, as some companies may decide they don’t want their own channels to participate.

What Could DIRECTV’s New Sports Package Have?

This package could be the easiest to predict, as DIRECTV may well look at the construction of the Venu Sports joint venture service that Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery intended to bring to market this year as a blueprint. Venu was intended to carry livestreams of 14 sports-themed linear channels such as ABC, ESPN, Fox, FS1, TBS, and TNT.

DIRECTV could well seek out the participation of NBCU and Paramount for this package, to get CBS, CBS Sports Network, and NBC into the sports-themed package as well as ABC, Fox, and the top cable sports networks. That would likely boost the price of this bundle a little higher, but it would grant customers access to almost the entire NFL season, nationally broadcast NHL and MLB games as well as much of the NBA season — though Prime Video will likely be getting a large chunk of these games starting in 2025.

This package is also likely to include access to ESPN+, since DIRECTV can now distribute Disney on-demand streamers to its customers. When ESPN’s new streaming service — temporarily dubbed “Flagship” by Disney — launches in 2025, DIRECTV will be able to offer it to its customers as well.

Ultimately, I think the sports “skinny” bundle from DIRECTV will offer ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS, CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN2, Fox, FS1, MLB Network, NBA TV, NBC, NHL Network, SEC Network, TBS, and TNT. This will provide a massive lineup of national sports games, though it will leave out regional sports networks (RSNs) as including them would likely drive the cost of the package to a place where it wouldn’t be attractive enough to customers to be worth the effort.

As for price, I think this package will start out at around $50 to $55 per month. The inclusion of local broadcast networks will be a big factor in the cost, and while it’s more than the $42.99 per month Venu was due to sell for, Disney, Fox, and WBD acknowledged they’d be selling the service at a loss for that price while they tried to build its customer base. DIRECTV could also include an alternative package for closer to $40 per month without broadcast channels, pointing viewers to over-the-air (OTA) antennas to get those networks.

What Could DIRECTV’s New Entertainment Package Have?

Like the sports package, I expect the entertainment package to have a good selection of top networks from multiple companies. It will probably go across the spectrum, including contemporary and popular channels like AMC and FX, reality-based networks such as Bravo and Food Network, as well as comfort viewing selections like Hallmark Channel and Lifetime.

Unlike the sports package, I don’t expect this package to include local broadcast networks. It will almost certainly incorporate free access to Hulu, which gets next-day streams of primetime shows from Fox and ABC for customers who want to scratch that particular itch.

My official prediction is that this package will have AMC, BET, Bravo, Comedy Central, Discovery, Food Network, FX, Hallmark Channel, HGTV, History, Lifetime, MTV, National Geographic, Paramount Network, Syfy, USA Network, and VH1.

Price-wise, I expect this bundle to be closer to $30 to $35 per month. That’s more than a package like Philo, but I expect DIRECTV’s offering to have a bit more in the way of high-demand channels in this particular lineup, plus the aforementioned Hulu access.

What Could DIRECTV’s New Kids and Family Package Have?

This could be the smallest channel lineup of the three “skinny” bundles, but it will also likely be the cheapest. This package is probably how DIRECTV will choose to distribute Disney+ to its customers, which would give them on-demand access to much of the content on Disney Channel and Disney Junior.

I think those two networks will still be included in this package, alongside Cartoon Network, Discovery, Disney XD, Food Network, Freeform, Hallmark Channel, National Geographic, and Nick Jr. There’s some overlap with the entertainment package here, but it’s a good mix of channels that are geared specifically for kids and ones that the whole family will want to watch together, with some educational networks mixed in.

I think the price of this package will come in at around $20 to $25 per month, since it won’t carry broadcast networks or sports of any kind. A mix of around 10 channels with Disney+ access could be very compelling to parents who are looking for a good way to have age-appropriate entertainment in their home without breaking the bank.