A Tampa Bay Attorney Is Suing Charter Communications Over Disney Blackout
Like millions of college football fans across the country, David Harwood sat down on Thursday night ready to watch the University of Florida take on the University of Utah on ESPN.
Harwood’s joy quickly turned to despair, however, when his screen went black.
Photo: The University of Utah
“I thought someone at the game unplugged the wrong thing or something, and it was just an accident because you see two coaches standing on the sideline, and all of a sudden the screen goes black,” said Harwood.
Disney’s Channels Go Dark On Spectrum
Instead of seeing the opening kickoff to one of the first big games of the college football season, fans were met with a message from Spectrum reading:
“Disney is demanding an excessive increase and wants to limit our ability to provide greater customer choice in programming packages, facing you to take and pay for channels you may not want.”
“I think there should have been more communications saying this might be coming,” said Harwood.
Harwood Took Action
Like millions of viewers, Harwood was frustrated. As an attorney, however, he decided to take action. Harwood filed a class action lawsuit against Charter Communications.
“This was used as a negotiating tool. And then you blame Mickey Mouse? Mickey Mouse did it. We didn’t do it. It’s not really greed. It’s Mickey Mouse’s fault that we decided to wait one minute before kickoff to pull the plug on college football,” said Howard.
In the days since the blackout went into effect, both Disney and Charter have gone back and forth over who is to blame.
A Battle Over Streaming?
The crux of the statement seems to be that Charter wanted Disney to include its streaming services for free as part of the package. Disney meanwhile has stated that Charter declined their offer to extend negotiations and avoid a blackout.
While the two sides bicker, Harwood isn’t waiting around. He has already canceled his Spectrum service and is switching to a competitor.
Photo: ESPN
“I can only imagine how many people are canceling their Spectrum services now, and I’m one of those. I won’t be going back,” he says.
