Disney’s channels went dark on DirecTV on Sunday, leaving millions of subscribers to the satellite TV service without access to marquee networks like ESPN and ABC and cutting off viewership to the U.S. Open tennis tournament.

The dispute means that most of DirecTV’s roughly 11 million U.S. subscribers can’t watch ESPN; the ABC broadcast network, which airs the U.S. Open, was also blacked out for many.

The outage is the latest instance of a dispute between a television programming company and its distributor resulting in a service disruption. Typically both sides must agree to new terms every few years, and failure to do so risks alienating customers who have grown increasingly disenchanted with having to pay for traditional TV. In the long run, these carriage disputes are unprofitable for both parties, and they are usually resolved in a few days. The contracts are usually written so they expire at periods of peak viewer interest, giving both sides an incentive to reach a deal. Disney’s dispute with DirecTV was the latest example: the outage began on the eve of Labor Day, cutting off access for many customers who were settling in for the long weekend.

The early hours of carriage disputes quickly involve finger-pointing, with both sides blaming the other for making unrealistic financial demands that deprive customers of the channels they are paying for. In the streaming era, TV programmers sometimes encourage viewers to find their shows and events on a service like Hulu or Fubo.