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'Monday Night Football' Is Back As Disney And Spectrum Ink A Deal
Disney and Spectrum's deal comes hours before the New York Jets play the Buffalo Bills during 'Monday Night Football.'
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Mike Stobe
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Getty Images
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The stalemate between Spectrum and Disney over carriage fees — the fees that Spectrum pays Disney to carry its content — has ended, which means Disney channels are immediately back on Spectrum programing.
That includes ESPN, which comes right on time for tonight's season debut of Monday Night Football.
Around 15 million Spectrum subscribers had been locked out of Disney channels since Aug. 31, as the distributor and content provider hashed out details of a carriage deal, which is also known as a distribution agreement.
In tonight’s much-awaited game, the Buffalo Bills are set to take on the New York Jets, and fans have taken to social media to rejoice:
Spectrum Disney dispute has been resolved in time for Monday Night Football
— Florian Wirtz Enjoyer/Gene Chizik Hater (@xab1ball) September 11, 2023
pic.twitter.com/LuRQB2zpeX
In the “transformative, multi-year distribution agreement,” the two companies said in a joint statement that Spectrum subscribers will have access to 19 Disney networks, including ABC, Nat Geo and ESPN. And select Spectrum TV packages will be able to log in to Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+.
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However, nine channels will be leaving the Spectrum portfolio, including Freeform and Disney Junior.
Fans are bemoaning the loss of Freeform ahead of its popular 31 Days of Halloween programming.
The channel, with content mostly aimed at 14- to 35-year-old viewers, has a fan following for its original content, like Grown-ish, but also its 31 Days of Halloween and 25 Days of Christmas programming.
Freeform is such a massive loss for Spectrum owners. Their yearly "31 Nights of Halloween" and "25 Days of Christmas" lineups were undefeated and always had a special effect on the Holiday Season. This sucks, man. https://t.co/wsB5EfZrOp pic.twitter.com/A3ISlQRrPT
— Justin | IDontBeatGames🦇 (@IDontBeatGames) September 11, 2023
Spectrum and Disney worked out their beef. I can watch sports normally again but can’t watch Freeform 😅 No 31 Nights of Halloween for me 😩
— Philly Swisher Sweets (@phyliciayvette_) September 11, 2023
And with more than 11,000 film and television writers on strike, some have taken to X, formerly known as Twitter, to express their ire that Disney was able to quickly negotiate with Charter Communications.
If only Disney was as committed to getting their audience ESPN again as they are getting the writers and actors back to work. 😒
— Allie Kenyon (@kenyon_allie) September 11, 2023
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So Disney is capable of negotiating a deal that’s beneficial to both sides now sit down with the actor & writers guilds and negotiate a deal that’s fair and equitable #SAGAFTRA #WritersStrike https://t.co/MKmzLkos28
— Shannon LaPierre (@Shan_LaPierre) September 11, 2023
Upon announcement of the deal earlier this morning, the affected Disney channels were restored immediately on Spectrum stations.
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