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Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Entertainment
Karl Rasmussen

College Football Fans Blow Up Over Spectrum Not Airing ESPN

College football fans were eagerly awaiting Thursday’s season-opening clash between Florida and No. 14 Utah, which aired on ESPN. When it came time for kickoff, however, those watching on Spectrum were met with nothing but a black screen. 

After a while, a message appeared on screens from the cable service provider, indicating that Disney had removed its programming from Spectrum amid ongoing negotiations over carriage fees the cable company pays to Disney. 

Spectrum subscribers were unable to watch the Gators-Utes showdown as a result of the dispute between the cable company and Disney, which resulted in a blackout of ESPN, as well as other Disney-owned cable stations. 

Disney released a statement Thursday evening, via Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand, saying in part, “We’ve been in ongoing negotiations with Charter Communications for some time and have not yet agreed to a new market-based agreement. ... We’re committed to reaching a mutually agreed upon resolution with Charter and we urge them to work with us to minimize the disruption to their customers.”

Many fans had been anticipating Thursday’s game for quite some time, and they were in disbelief after getting hit with the message from Spectrum on their screens. College football fans took to social media to express their rage and frustration over the situation which prevented them from enjoying the early-season action.

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