College football season is finally upon us, unless you’re a Spectrum customer.
After a long offseason, Thursday marked one of the first major nights of the college football calendar. Week 0 has come and gone, with Thursday kicking off the beginning of the first big wave of college football action. Unfortunately for Spectrum customers, the party was cut short early before kickoff.
You see, Spectrum and Disney (who owns ESPN) are currently in a major dispute over money. Specifically, the fight is over access fees that Spectrum would owe Disney, with the cable company believing the fees to be too exorbitant.
And now, it seems that the gauntlet has been thrown. As Florida and Utah were lining up for kickoffs, Spectrum cut the feed to ESPN and the multitude of other Disney-owned channels, replacing them with a message to their customers.
Currently airing on all Disney-owned channels on Charter Spectrum: pic.twitter.com/sNlkxSktwy
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) September 1, 2023
Blackouts are miserable at the best of times, but losing access to channels you paid for because of a monetary dispute did not sit well with Spectrum customers at all. Here’s how college football fans reacted to Spectrum’s ESPN blackout ahead of Utah and Florida’s highly-anticipated kickoff.
I suddenly don’t have ESPN because according to Spectrum Disney cut them off. Tonight. Before kickoff. WTF?
— Jeff Schultz (@JeffSchultzATL) September 1, 2023
Look at these awesome first quarter highlights
Thanks Spectrum & ESPN! pic.twitter.com/cWvYXNZ23J
— Tony Clements (@TonyCMKE) September 1, 2023
Lmao tell me spectrum didn't just literally cut ESPN off right before kickoff of the Florida vs Utah game….
— Mike 🏈 footballiance.com (@DraftMaverick) September 1, 2023
Spectrum just dumped out of the Florida/Utah game! 🤬 https://t.co/cpFJmuVHfK
— Friend of the Program (@TheFOTP) September 1, 2023
Disney and Spectrum couldn’t agree to a deal, so all ESPN channels went dark at the start of the Florida vs. Utah game tonight. That’s brutallll pic.twitter.com/yQAGrenRQ5
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) September 1, 2023
Did Spectrum just end things with ESPN right as Florida vs Utah started?
— Its Derek Time (@BoneDaddyYC) September 1, 2023
The spectrum/ESPN deal went bad AT KICKOFF 😂😂😂 these billion dollar companies really just play in our faces (my mom got DirecTV so I’m good 😂 but wow) pic.twitter.com/jnEkKuoErn
— Northwest Cee (@CeeHawk) September 1, 2023
A Charter Spectrum just dropped ESPN right as the CFB season kicks off. Ain’t no way bro. pic.twitter.com/LLmYbaFDdo
— Jordan Woodson (@Jordan_Woodson) September 1, 2023
Seriously? A pissing match between Disney and Spectrum right as college football season starts.🤬 pic.twitter.com/KLx2eeSAtn
— Scott Simoneau (@SimScottNeau) September 1, 2023
