DIRECTV Warns WBD That CNN Max News Hub Might Violate Contract

The contentious relationship between pay-TV providers and media companies isn’t getting any better as the evolution from traditional linear viewing to streaming accelerates. On the heels of multiple carriage and retransmission disagreements, the latest dispute is of a different breed. When Warner Bros. Discovery announced that it would be bringing CNN branded news programming to its flagship streaming service Max, it raised a lot of the questions that onlookers had with the ill-fated CNN+ in 2022. Namely, how do you bring the live news coverage that viewers expect from the CNN brand without infringing on the carriage agreements that you have with cable, satellite, and live TV streaming services?

Initially, when Max made the announcement, the assumption was that the vast majority of programming would be original and exclusive to Max, with a handful of linear CNN broadcasts being available to stream live. However, when the news hub launched last week, WBD unveiled the full schedule and there were likely more live CNN shows available on Max than many anticipated, especially in the important evening news and prime time windows from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET with shows like “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer,” “Erin Burnett OutFront,” “Anderson Cooper 360,” and “Source with Kaitlan Collins.”

Now, according to the New York Times, DIRECTV is telling WBD that it believes that by placing those shows on Max at the same time that they air on linear, that CNN’s parent company might be violating the carriage agreement with the satellite provider.

According to the NYT’s Benjamin Mullin, DIRECTV sent a letter to WBD in the past week stating its case. The concern is that by offering the popular prime-time CNN programs on Max at a far cheaper rate than on DIRECTV or its streaming platform DIRECTV STREAM, WBD is undermining the value of the channel to the TV provider, despite the fact that it is already paying a carriage fee that was agreed upon before the CNN Max plan was announced.

A WBD spokesperson told the paper of record that it “maintains strong and meaningful relationships with our affiliate partners. Our partners are aware of and understand our rationale with Max, which is to reach new audiences.”

It is unclear whether or not DIRECT will follow up its letter to WBD with any further action, potentially pursuing a reduction in its carriage fees or free access to Max for subscribers, but as more and more companies put previously linear-only titles on streaming services, this will likely not be the final time these types of disagreements are discussed.

For a week and a half, Charter and Disney were locked in a carriage and retransmission dispute that, in part, was centered on the belief that Disney was lessening the value of the channels carried by Charter’s cable provider Spectrum by making them so readily available on Hulu and Disney+. The disagreement led to viewers being unable to watch any Disney-owned channel for 10 days, including during the first weekend of the college football season. However, was resolved ahead of the first “Monday Night Football” game of the year, which was broadcast on Disney-owned ABC and ESPN.

Part of the new contract that was agreed upon by the sides was that Spectrum customers would get free access to Disney+. While it is a somewhat different situation between DIRECTV and WBD, perhaps free subscriptions to Max for DIRECTV and DIRECTV STREAM customers will be part of a future resolution.

This dustup with Warner Bros. Discovery is just the latest for DIRECTV which just two weeks ago resolved a two-and-a-half-month-long service interruption with Nexstar, the largest owner of local affiliates in the country. Nexstar was seeking an increase in the retransmission fees that it receives from DIRECTV for the right to carry the channels in over 100 markets across the country. DIRECTV claimed that the proposed increase was exorbitant and would negatively impact customers by necessitating a price hike.

Terms of the resolution have not been announced, but it is clear by how long the disagreement went that DIRECTV is not afraid to take a stand if need be. Whether or not the TV provider draws a line in the sand that eventually leads to CNN — or any other Warner Bros. Discovery-owned cable channels — going dark on the service is yet to be seen, but it is unlikely that this will be the last we hear about this situation.