EXCLUSIVE: Just over 60 days before what is considered one of the most consequential elections of modern times, the tight race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump has become ensnared in the carriage dispute between the Walt Disney Company and DirecTV.
A week before the first debate between the Vice President and the former POTUS is scheduled to air on ABC, the network is dark for the 11.3 million DirecTV subscribers nationwide.
While the two sides are technically still talking since their contact expired on September 1 and channels like ABC, the U.S. Open and college football showing ESPN, FX, Disney Jr and a dozen others suddenly went to black, there are no active discussions going on today, sources tell us.
Earlier Tuesday, DirecTV CEO Ray Carpenter dismissed predictions that this would all be over by September 9 when the big NFL ticket kicks off with the New York Jets vs. the San Francisco 49ers on ABC, ESPN and more Disney-own channels. “We’re not playing a short-term game,” the exec said on a September 3 Wall Street conference call of DirecTV’s desire to end the “bloated” packages that are presumed to be driving consumers to cord cut. “We need something that is going to work for the long-term sustainability of our video customers. The resolve is there”
Neither the Harris campaign nor the Trump campaign had any response Tuesday to the impact of the Disney and DirecTV dust-up on the debate. ABC News and parent company Disney also did not respond about the fallout of the blackout on the September 10 debate. However, with mail-in voting starting in several states later this week and jurisdictions like North Carolina sending out their absentee ballots to registered voters who requested one, the Harris and Trump debate could prove a deciding factor for millions of voters.
In a very close election losing potential eyeballs has an oversize effect.
“That’s the law of unintended consequences,” a Hollywood political operative told Deadline of the blackout and the upcoming debate. “Dana Walden may be Harris’ pal, (Bob) Iger may want to mend some Republican fences, so what?” he added of the Disney Entertainment co-chair and politically astute CEO. “This is an existential threat to their business as linear TV fall is dying. I say its’ 50/50 if they can make a deal by the time of the debate, and I doubt it’s a big factor in getting to that deal.”
Not that DIRECTV customers won’t be able to watch the primetime Lindsey Davis and David Muir moderated ABC News Presidential Debate | Race for the White House event on September10. They just won’t be able to watch it on ABC.
Even before the network went dark on DirecTV, ABC News had said it would follow in CNN’s footsteps with that disastrous Joe Biden and Trump debate on June 27 and allowing other networks to simulcast the face-off. The 9 pm ET/6 pm PT starting Philadelphia hosted debate will stream also stream in real time on Hulu and Disney+, as well as ABC News Live.
There has been no talk of moving the debate to another network, though Trump has been pushing a Fox New meet-up for weeks.
In some quarters, the 16 Disney channels on DirecTV going dark is no big deal in the grand scheme of things.
“Given the range of outlets that are likely to carry the debate, I doubt that this blackout will greatly affect the reach of the audience,” Alan Schroeder, author of Presidential Debates: 50 Years Of High Risk TV told Deadline today. “Anyone who wants to watch the debate will have plenty of options beyond Disney’s portfolio of channels.”
Schroeder noted that when CNN held its debate in June, the viewership for the host network was 9.5 million viewers, as opposed to 51.3 million viewers overall. That means at least three quarters of the audience was watching on other channels and platforms, he noted. “I expect something similar to hold true for the Harris-Trump debate,” he said.
“I also expect a higher rating for Harris-Trump than for Biden-Trump. Voters traditionally pay more attention to the election after Labor Day, so the June debate hit at a moment when many people weren’t keyed into the campaign. Furthermore, I think Harris is likely to attract more viewers simply because she is more of a novelty than Biden was. And it’s quite possible this is the only debate these two candidates take part in this cycle, which further incentivizes the audience to watch.”
The blackout of Disney channels two days ago came at the halfway point of ESPN2’s U.S. Open, which is a notable event on the sports calendar, particularly for tennis fans on the coasts.
ESPN’s “first-ball-to-last-ball” coverage garners consistent viewership, occasionally drawing multiple millions of viewers for high-profile matchups. Solid ratings, along with the appeal of the tournament to high-end advertisers, prompted ESPN and the U.S. Tennis Association to reach a renewal last week that will keep the Open on the Disney-owned outlet’s family of networks through 2037.
College football has already been tackled by the Disney and DirecTV clash went to Def Con 1.
The distribution dispute saw ESPN go to a dark just before the start of LSU’s game against USC. Instead of the much anticipated game, viewers says a slate that read: “Our contract with Disney, the provider of this channel, has expired. We appreciate your patience while we negotiate to offer you greater choice, flexibility and value.”
Tonight saw traditional satellite, cable and the internet-delivered DirecTV Stream service customer who are fans of The Bachelorette miss the Season 21 finale.
Unlike the live showing of the POTUS debate next week, viewers of The Bachelorette have to wait until tomorrow to find out who Jenn Tran picked. In that context, we will have to wait until November 5 to find out who America picked.
