Millions of college football fans tuned in to ESPN Thursday to catch the first big game of the season: Florida vs. Utah.
Some of them didn’t get what they were looking for.
In lieu of the SEC-Pac-12 dispute, Spectrum customers were faced with a series of four statements from the cable company, explaining that contentious negotiations over transmission fees had led to ESPN’s parent company Disney withdrawing its channels from subscribers. Not only sports channels were affected, but also other Disney-owned channels such as ABC, FX and National Geographic.
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However, the loudest anger came from sports fans. Spectrum and ESPN quickly became top trending topics in the US on X, formerly known as Twitter, and fans complained that they couldn’t see the channels they had paid for. Charter claims to have around 14.7 million video subscribers.
ESPN and Spectrum are playing their own game on fares. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Spectrum’s full statement was sent to subscribers:
“The Walt Disney Company, the owner of this station, has removed its programming from Spectrum, which is a liability to our customers. We apologize for the inconvenience and continue to negotiate in good faith to reach a fair settlement.”
“We made Disney a fair offer, but they are asking for an excessive price increase. They also want to limit our ability to offer our customers a greater choice of programming packages by forcing you to watch and pay for channels you may not want. We are very disappointed in their position, which has had a negative impact on our customers.
“Spectrum is on your side fighting to keep costs down while protecting and maximizing customer choice. Increasing programming costs are the biggest factor behind higher cable TV prices, and we’re struggling hard to meet the programming fees imposed on us by companies like Disney.
“Our negotiations are about one thing: reaching an agreement that is fair to our customers. We understand this is an inconvenience and hope to be able to return this program soon. We appreciate your loyalty and look forward to continuing to serve you.”
You can hear each company’s perspective at keepmynetworks.com and disneyespnfairdeal.com.
With ratings plummeting across the cable world, companies like Spectrum are making live sports more important than ever when it comes to attracting subscribers (Spectrum has been on the other side of a similar feud for years with its Spectrum SportsNet LA). Disney and every other sports rights holder knows this, hence the relentless fights for TV rights and conference realignments.
Spectrum subscribers aren’t the only college football fans to face losing games this season, either, as DirecTV is still locked in a standoff with Nexstar Media Group, the largest owner of local television networks in the country, with dozens of Subsidiaries of college football star Fox.
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