DirecTV completes deal with Disney for broad ESPN TV Everywhere access

Culminating one of 2014's most anticipated rounds of pay-TV deal making, DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) has finally announced the finalization of a broad-reaching licensing agreement with the Walt Disney Company.

The highlight of the new deal: TV Everywhere access to ESPN for DirecTV's 20 million subscribers. This was a major rights hole in the multiscreen initiative that became glaringly obvious during ESPN's landmark TV Everywhere coverage of the World Cup last June.

The new multiyear agreement, which replaces a deal that expired Sept. 30, offers DirecTV subscribers access to a number of linear and non-linear ESPN channels, including ESPN Goal Line, ESPN Buzzer Beater and ESPN3. Also included are Fusion, as well as  ESPN-managed regional sports channels the Longhorn Network and the SEC Network.

The latter additions might be of particular annoyance to West Coast DirecTV subscribers, who still don't have access to the Pac-12 Network.

For more:
- read this ESPN press release

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