Spectrum TV is providing refunds to eligible customers affected by the nearly two-week blackout of Walt Disney Co. channels, including those who live in Western New York.
During the dispute, which caused the blackout of about two dozen channels under the Disney umbrella, Charter Spectrum cable was providing refunds to customers calling to complain about the missing channels.
With the NFL and college football seasons in full swing, Disney holds some strong cards in the current dispute because of the pressure being put on Spectrum by its subscribers to watch the games, Pergament says.
The company intends to communicate with remaining customers affected by the blackout to quickly get them refunds, as well.
A spokesperson for Charter Spectrum cable said the company will be giving a “prorated credit for Disney content that was unavailable during the carriage dispute to eligible Spectrum TV customers who had not received a credit already.”
The sides reached a deal that returned most channels including ESPN to Spectrum’s roughly 15 million subscribers after an 11-day blackout – a dispute over how much Disney’s channels are worth and how to package them.
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Gov. Kathy Hochul has directed the Department of Public Service to obtain refunds for consumers who have been left without the channels amid a carriage dispute between Walt Disney Co. and Charter Spectrum.
Charter Spectrum said it began communicating with customers the same day the deal was reached via email or text to indicate that they would receive automatic credit within 48 hours.
“We will have a strategy to make sure that we treat customers appropriately and fairly as it relates to credit,” Charter Spectrum CEO Christopher L. Winfrey said in a call with investors last week.
The blackout, which affected 1.5 million viewers in New York, caused subscribers to miss programming since Aug. 31 on the entire family of ESPN networks, as well as channels such as Freeform, FX and National Geographic. That includes missing nearly all of the two-week U.S. Open tennis tournament on ESPN.
The deal came the same day as the “Monday Night Football” game between the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets, which would have been missed by many fans across the country due to the blackout.
Gov. Kathy Hochul had also taken notice of the impact of the rift and on Friday directed the Department of Public Service to obtain refunds for consumers who were left without the channels amid the carriage dispute between the two companies.
The governor urged that refunds be provided “as soon as possible,” and the Department of Public Service sent Charter Spectrum cable a letter Friday demanding swift refunds.
“It’s simple: If you pay your cable bill, you deserve to get the services you pay for,” Hochul said at the time.
At the crux of the issue was companies moving content out of their linear channels and into their a la carte direct-to-consumer offerings, with fewer commercials and “permissive” password rules, as consumers move away from traditional cable and into streaming services. For Spectrum, those offerings now fall under their “Select” packages.