Spectrum's dispute with Disney could impact college football viewers this weekend

George M. Thomas
·2 min read
1
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Just in time for college football season, Spectrum cable customers lost access to Walt Disney Co. owned cable channels earlier Thursday night.

This included customers in the Borderland.

The battle is over — surprise —money and what Spectrum pays Disney in access fees. I’ve written this before and I will likely write it in the future — this is the norm, not the exception in today's media environment.

To show just how normal such the situation is: Nexstar has been battling DirecTV most of the summer over a similar issue.

This, however, is different and potentially more significant for sports fans. Week 1 of the college football season begins tonight and Disney via the ESPN family of networks.

ESPN College GameDay broadcasts from Columbus Ohio on Nov. 26, 2022 prior to the football game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Michigan Wolverines.
ESPN College GameDay broadcasts from Columbus Ohio on Nov. 26, 2022 prior to the football game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Michigan Wolverines.

They also operate channels – SEC Network, ACC Network, Longhorn Network – that lean into specialized coverage of a conference or team.

That, however, just represents the sports side of this equation. Disney owns some of the most popular entertainment channels on cable also:

  • FX

  • FX Movie Channel

  • FXX

  • Freeform

  • National Geographic

  • Nat Geo Wild

  • Nat Geo Mundo

  • Disney Channel

  • Disney Junior

  • Disney XD

  • Baby TV

At keepmynetworks.com, Disney implored its customers to contact Spectrum.

“If we don’t reach a new agreement with Spectrum soon, some of your favorite shows may be gone from your lineup including “SportsCenter” and exclusive live sports such as “Monday Night Football” and college football plus “Mickey Mouse Funhouse,” “31 Nights of Halloween,” “American Horror Story,” “Welcome to Wrexham,” “Life Below Zero” and much more,” it read in part.

Spectrum countered at the website disneyespnfairdeal.com:

“We offered Disney a fair deal, yet they are demanding an excessive increase. They also want to limit our ability to provide greater customer choice in programming packages forcing you to take and pay for channels you may not want," according to a statement. "Spectrum is on your side and fighting to keep costs down while protecting and maximizing customer choice.”

How long can it continue? A sobering fact to consider: if they were close to a deal, chances are they will still be on the cable system.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Disney channels, ESPN included are off on Spectrum