Larry McShane | New York Daily News
College soccer followers ready for kickoff within the eagerly-awaited showdown between Utah and Florida received a kick within the head as a dispute between Spectrum Cable and The Walt Disney Co., proprietor of ESPN, blacked out the sport for a lot of followers.
The Thursday night time season opener was pulled minutes earlier than the sport’s first play, leaving offended boosters for each groups furious. The cable firm serves 14.7 million subscribers, a lot of them infuriated by the choice.
“Waited all day for the SEC football kickoff between Florida and Utah,” wrote one angry fan on X, previously often known as Twitter. “Only to have ESPN CUT OFF RIGHT BEFORE KICKOFF due to a dispute between Spectrum and Disney. This is awful, AWFUL. YOU MIGHT WANNA THINK ABOUT LETTING FOLKS SEE THE GAME.”
Spectrum Cable pulled the Florida soccer sport proper at kickoff. A dispute between them and Disney who owns ESPN. We pay for ESPN so how dare they pull the programming in the course of the sport. I used to be already ticked off with them for not having web at some point final week. Refund!
— Tammy (@tammyj0528) September 1, 2023
Tennis followers had been equally outraged when the Thursday night time U.S. Open protection disappeared earlier than No. 1-ranked Carlos Alcaraz’s second-round straight-set victory towards Dominil Koepfer in Queens.
“We’re very disappointed for our fans and viewers around the country that Spectrum … could not resolve their dispute with Disney,” mentioned U.S. Tennis Association spokesman Chris Widmaier. “We’re very hopeful that this dispute can be resolved as quickly as possible.”
The plug-pulling transfer got here with out advance warning, prompting a social media outpouring of angst from these anticipating to look at the conflict between the SEC staff and their Pac-12 opponents.
A second fan complained he couldn’t even watch the competition on his ESPN app: “I pay for so many things every month and I can’t get this game?”
Those tuning in had been as an alternative greeted by a message posted by Spectrum laying the blame on the Disney facet as Utah rolled to a 24-11 victory.
“We apologize for the inconvenience and are negotiating in good faith to reach a fair agreement,” the corporate wrote. “We offered Disney a fair deal, yet they are demanding an excessive increase … Spectrum is on your side and fighting to keep costs down.”
Disney responded by encouraging Spectrum to work with the media conglomerate to achieve a deal, noting the phrases proposed by their firm had been pushed by the altering trade market.
“We’re committed to reaching a mutually agreed upon resolution … and we urge them to work with us to minimize the disruption to their customers,” mentioned the Disney assertion.
In addition to blacking out the soccer sport, subscribers additionally misplaced entry to different Disney-own channels together with ABC, FX and National Geographic.
“Spectrum Cable pulled the Florida football game right at kickoff,” wrote one other offended tweeter. “A dispute between them and Disney who owns ESPN. We pay for ESPN so how dare they pull the programming during the game. I was already ticked off with them for not having internet one day last week. Refund!”
The full checklist of channels impacted by the dispute embrace ESPN, SEC and ACC networks, Longhorn Network, FX channels, Freeform, National Geographic, Disney channels, and ABC owned-and-affiliated information stations in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Raleigh-Durham, Houston, and Fresno.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”