The war is finally over.
No, not the war in Ukraine, but the war between Disney and Charter Communications that has left throngs of Spectrum customers across Guilford County – and across the country – without the football games, tennis matches and other sporting events they wanted to see, especially at a time when a very exciting college football season had just begun.
Several national news agencies reported on Monday, Sept. 11, that the two companies had reached a deal, and that, just hours before the first Monday Night Football game of the year is broadcast, ESPN and other Disney channels will be back on Spectrum.
Tens of thousands of Spectrum cable customers in Guilford County were irate beyond belief when, on Thursday, Aug. 31, at about 8 p.m., ESPN and its affiliate channels – along with all Disney channels – went dark and Spectrum began broadcasting a repeating message on those channels stating that viewers should complain to Disney if they were unhappy.
Some families who were Spectrum customers were doubly upset because many parents – angry about the loss of sports – had to deal with children who were upset about the loss of their favorite programing.
The two companies Disney and Charter Communications, which owns Spectrum, have had disputes in the past, but never ones that have lasted 11 days at a critical juncture in the sports year.
Apparently, by the morning of Sept. 11, there had been enough bloodshed on both sides to get the two warring companies to reach an agreement.
Some media reports stated that a continuation of the battle could have led to bankruptcy for ESPN, while the damage done to Spectrum must be enormous.
Many customers in Guilford County who never would have moved from traditional cable, signed up for live streaming services like Hulu and Fubu over the past 11 days in order to see the games, and found out that those streaming services worked just fine and gave them what they needed television-wise for less than half the cost of Spectrum.
There are no hard numbers yet on how many cable subscribers Spectrum lost during the debacle. However, some customers who did call to cancel said that hold times could be several hours – which seems to indicate that the number of cord cutters will be very large indeed.
Got rid of Spectrum! Kept raising prices with no warning, no additional service.
Good for the customers. Let the people be heard. Now let’s go after DirectTV.
As stated in an earlier article on these 2 dumpsters…screw em. I too will cut the cable cord as I am set on what I want to do. It will definitely be less cost. Maybe if Spectrum has a brain they will reduce prices to keep customers….but I doubt it. Hope it is financially painful as hell for both parties.
I didn’t miss either one of those networks. To woke for me. But, I’m glad the game is on. Only time I watch espn.
Antenna TV is the BEST EVER!!! Many channels, new and old shows, and its ALL FREE.
I’m so glad that I no long have cable TV. There are many more comercials and advertisments
now than ever before. What a waste of time to watch television these days. These services are
over rated. ENJOY!!!
Unsubscribing from Spectrum is like having a wisdom tooth cut out. These cable parasites are preying upon the subscribers’ addiction to the Sports Media, or more generally, the idiot box. (I speak from experience). Include me out.
Some of you don’t read or look up information. Spectrum wasn’t at fault with this one. Charter owns Spectrum, Disney owns ESPN, ABC, National Geographic, FX, Freeform & Disney. They charge Spectrum, AT&T, Direct TV and other Cable Outlets a charge to show their networks to you. FOX NEWS also is charged to your cable bill as well. Disney wanted to redo their contract with Charter and raise up the asking fee. Which would have raised your bill up people, Spectrum put their foot down and said no, which lead to the fall out. Like the writer said, ESPN would have gone Bankrupted if they kept the locked out going. Then some of you talking about getting rid of Spectrum, well you either getting your internet from SPECTRUM, AT&T or NORTH STATE, ETC to get YOUTUBE TV, HULU or FUBO, One way or another the cable company is getting your money.