More than 11 million direct TV customers were left in the dark after Disney Entertainment pulled E.S.B.C. and other channels from the satellite provider on a busy sports night.

Viewers were cut off in the middle of a U.S. open tennis match and before the kickoff of a college

football game.

The dispute centers on what channels Direct TV must carry and whether that makes sense

in a changing landscape of cord cutting.

It comes as the NFL season starts tonight.

For more on this and what it says about the business and the age of streaming, we're joined

now by Meg James who covers the entertainment industry for the Los Angeles Times.

Thanks for being with us.

Thank you for having me. This all started as a routine dispute over the rates Direct TV would pay Disney entertainment for its

television networks. How did both sides hit this impasse? Well this debate has

been simmering behind the surface because the pay TV providers like

Direct TV are increasingly aggravated that Disney and other programmers have started their

own streaming services basically to go into competition

with their longtime partners.

And this dispute has been sort of going on for a few weeks, but it really roared into public focus on

Sunday when the deadline for the last deal expired and Direct TV no longer

had authorization to carry Disney's channels, including ESPN.

There are a lot of very, what would seem like arcane rules that the programmers have instituted,

which used to work out fine for the pay TV providers

and the programmers.

But in an age of skinnier bundles, these rules are just not working for the likes of direct TV.

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