Disney Makes Last Minute Cable Deal, Millions Permanently Lose Channels

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Disney Channel Cable with mickey Mouse

Credit: Inside the Magic

The Walt Disney Company has made an eleventh-hour bargain with cable giant Spectrum, concluding a tense 10-day standoff in which the two mega-companies blacked out the Disney Channel, National Geographic, ESPN, FXX, ABC, and Monday Night Football for millions of subscribers around the country.

Disney Channel, ESPN, ABC logo with people watching tv
Credit: Edited by Inside the Magic

Ten days ago, nearly 15 million Spectrum customers abruptly lost access to all Disney-owned channels after the two companies were unable to strike a new carrier bargain.

Related: Disney+ and Netflix Team Up, Destroy Cable Networks

The cable company was insistent that Disney allow it (and, by extension, its customers) greater freedom in selecting bundled channel packages, while the House of Mouse was equally insistent on demanding that the very lucrative ESPN channel be included whether or not customers were interested in sports.

Losing numerous channels immediately before the fall television season, the US Open and the beginning of Monday Night Football season was a huge risk for the entertainment industry, which is already reeling from the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

All three logos for hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+
Credit: Disney

However, it seemed like neither Disney nor Spectrum was willing to budge in what many experts felt could be an industry-defining conflict in the future of linear and streaming television.

Disney and Spectrum have come to a new carriage agreement, with the cable company saying in a statement (via LA Times) that it was “pleased that Spectrum viewers once again have access to Disney’s high-quality sports, news and entertainment programming, in time for Monday Night Football” and thanked “mutual customers for their patience this past week.”

However, not all Spectrum customers are happy about the deal made between the two companies, which still does not restore all Disney channels. Specifically, Spectrum customers have permanently lost access to Baby TV, Disney Junior, Disney XD, Freeform, FXM, FXX, Nat Geo Wild, and Nat Geo Mundo.

Bob Iger Disney Channel
Credit: Inside the Magic

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Considering how furious many Spectrum customers were with the blackout in the first place, it will have to remain to be seen how they react to losing channels in negotiations between Disney and the cable company. Many customers were demanding refunds from either Spectrum or Disney, and it feels like that will probably not be changing any time soon.

We will have to wait and see how this last-minute deal affects the future of regular cable vs. streaming and whether Disney CEO Bob Iger will have anything to say about it.

Would you sign up for Spectrum after the whole Disney debacle? Did customers get screwed here? Let us know in the comments below!

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