If you’ve been missing out on being able to watch ABC, ESPN, the Disney Channel, and more lately — you’re not alone.
©ESPN
And you’re certainly not the only one frustrated by it, either. Disney is in the middle of a contract dispute with Charter Communications, and the rift has left millions of people without access to Disney-owned channels. Now, customers may officially be fed up as Charter has been hit with a class-action lawsuit.
Charter has removed Disney-owned networks from its service after not being able to agree on contract terms. This includes ESPN, ABC, ESPN, FX, and the Disney Channel. Disney previously released a statement noting that “disputes between cable companies and content providers aren’t new.” But now it looks like the dispute isn’t just between Charter and Disney — according to The Hollywood Reporter, a lawsuit was filed on September 5th alleging that Charter customers were used as a “clear money grab” from the cable company.
©Disney
“Although Charter claims that they value their customers…they declined Disney’s offer to extend negotiations which would have kept Disney-owned networks up for consumers in the middle of perennial programming events like the US Open and college football,” Disney shared in a previous statement.
©Disney
The lawsuit puts Charter at fault for allegedly declining Disney’s offer to extend negotiations and seeks an order requiring the cable giant to cease its blackout of Disney channels — or provide reimbursement for those not currently being provided. Charter has offered customers a $15 rebate if they call customer service and request it.
The proposed class action suit claims breach of contract and violations of Florida consumer protection laws, and seeks to represent all Charter customers who lost access to Disney’s networks along with Florida consumers who were charged their entire bill “despite not being allotted access to all the advertised services.”
©Disney
Charter has not publicly responded to the suit just yet, and we’ll be looking for comments from Disney as well — though it’s important to note that Disney is not directly involved in this lawsuit.
We’ll keep an eye on this situation as it develops, so stay tuned to DFB for more Disney news!
Learn More About the Contract Dispute Here
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I am a Spectrum customer and am absolutely upset over this dispute between Disney and Spectrum. I mean personally, I don’t quite care about the sports channels but I tune into ABC channel 7 for news and morning programs like Live with Kelly and Mark, Tamron Hall Show, The view etc.. and I have my nephew that stays with me and he loves watching the Disney Jr. Channel. I refuse to pay separately for a streaming service as I prefer cable TV. I am not exactly Tech Savvy and just can’t afford to update what I have in order to sign up for different streaming services or apps just to get the channels I want and Love to watch. I hope something is figured out soon and that the channels will be restored for us consumers as both sides are not being fair to their customers.
If Charter would cut back on the numerous commercials for Spectrum they may have more money to take care of the customers they already have. It’s absurd seeing their commercials at least every 30 minutes no matter what channel you watch & tell the public they’re trying to do what’s best for the customer.
Disney doesn’t make it easy to switch to Hulu + Live TV easy. As an existing Disney (Disney+ ESPN and Hulu) bundle customer I could not simply add Live Tv to the bundle. I had to call Hulu, have them terminate the existing Bundle and sign me up in a new Bundle which included Live TV. Extremely cumbersome manual process. Disney does not have its act together in integrating Hulu with its other offerings. Not a winning Strategy as it picks a fight with Charter Communications.
I totally agree about the commercials spectrum runs all the time. I have no support for Spectrum. Just take your customers into consideration and you won’t need all the damn commercials. Get er done!!!
so many stations have been pulled, they owe all of us a credit on the bill!!
It’s Time for the content creators ie. The NFL, MLB, US Open etc. to start putting poison pills in their contracts that heavily penalize carriers and broadcasters of their content, that for any reason if it isn’t aired for any reason they get slammed with a huge $$$$ fine that goes directly to the consumer s paying for the content.
I have waited impatiently for football season to start and now I am unable to watch the games because of this dispute I don’t want to go to streaming because cable is easier for me but I pay over $300 a month for spectrum and I can’t watch what I want so I am seriously considering changing.
I was a Spectrum customer until this week, after I canceled them for screwing over their customers. I’m also a UK fan and not being able to watch the first football game of the season was infuriating. I refuse to be a pawn in a corporate fight, so now I have Hulu live and enjoyed watching the UK football game this afternoon.
charter didnt pull the programs disney did
When I went to cancel my cable, Spectrum told me I would lose my promotional rate on my internet, as it was bundle with the cable and it would jump $50/mo.
(I’m in a suburb of Dayton (weathly, at that) but Spectrum still has a monopoly for internet service).
After the settlement, I’ve learned not all the channels have returned and when I called Spectrum I informed them that our “cortact” (and that an oral contract was as binding as any) had been broken, therefore they could no longer consider it a bundle…
I even made the comment that if my cable channels dwindled down to just Spectrum News (for $125/mo) it didn’t seem right. I was asked if I had any other questions? I’m curious to see how many customers they lost, in addition to mine as soon as another internet service is available.