Spectrum cable customers who wanted to watch the US Open this weekend may have found themselves out of luck thanks to a Disney blackout on the service.
On Thursday evening, Disney blocked its channels from being viewed by Spectrum’s 15 million subscribers over a contract dispute between the two companies. On Friday, Spectrum said “We offered Disney a fair deal, and yet they continue to demand an excessive increase,” in a blog post referring to the cost of broadcasting the stations going forward, and today Disney shot back with a blog post of its own somewhat explaining the dispute from its perspective.
According to Disney, in an average month, 71% of Charter subscribers tune into a Disney-owned station. Over a year, Disney says that ads up to more than 3.3 billion hours of Disney content are being watched by Charter subscribers.
The dispute stems from Disney wanting its channels included in some Spectrum packages where they aren’t currently, Charter argues that doing so would force customers into paying for channels they might not want. Disney on the other hand claims that Charter is asking for access to its streaming services for free.
If you’re upset about the blackout, Disney says to blame Charter.
“Even though Charter also claims to value Disney’s direct-to-consumer services, the cable company is demanding these different services for free—as they have stated publicly—which does not make economic sense,” Disney says. “Moreover, it does not make sense for consumers who desire the flexibility to have our streaming platforms as standalone services."
Disney also suggested that customers “have many options today and can choose from competing pay TV providers that offer Disney’s entire portfolio of networks and programming, as well as TV streaming services that can be accessed by downloading an app or over a broadband connection.”
This isn’t the first time Disney has pulled its programming from a service as a negotiating tactic. Last year Disney blacked out Dish and Sling TV during contract negotiations and in 2021 the company blacked out YouTube TV. In both cases, the disputes were resolved within a few days.
The blackout impacts ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, ESPNU, ESPN News, SEC Network, ACC Network, Longhorn Network, FX, FX Movie Channel, FXX, Freeform, National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Mundo, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, BabyTV
ABC On Demand programming and the following local ABC stations: ABC7 Chicago, ABC7 Los Angeles, ABC7 New York, ABC7 San Francisco, ABC11 Raleigh-Durham, ABC13 Houston, ABC30 Fresno.