DirecTV Rejects Disney Offer To Restore ABC News Tonight Only For POTUS Debate – Update

deadline.com:

UPDATE. 12:43 PM: There will be no presidential debate on ABC for DirecTV customers tonight. “Unfortunately, DirecTV has rejected our offer,” a Disney spokesperson bluntly told Deadline just now.

As talks go on with DirecTV over a new carriage contract and Disney channels remain dark on the service, the Mouse House proposed three-hour primetime carve out for the first match-up between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

Almost 10 days into the dispute that has seen all of the 16 Disney channels on DirecTV essentially disappear, the satellite cable company today said that it was not interested in making a one-time only deal for tonight’s historic debate.

A decision that was made because DirecTV were apparently worried subscribers would get confused. “On Tuesday, Disney requested a unique exception to return ABC-only for tonight because it’s hosting the 2024 Presidential Debate, an event widely available across other major broadcast stations and news networks,” DirectTV wrote online this afternoon. “Unfortunately, returning only Disney’s ABC stations from the entire portfolio of channels for a limited 3-hour window will cause customer confusion among those who would briefly see the debate only to lose the channel again shortly after.” Or does this all come down to football for DirecTV?