The first debate between former President Donald Trump and his Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to take place next week on Tuesday, September 10. However, due to the ongoing dispute between Disney and DirecTV, over 11 million Americans may not be able to see it.
ABC is scheduled to broadcast the debate between the presidential candidates next Tuesday. However, the channel is currently unavailable to 11.3 million DirecTV subscribers across the country. This comes as Disney is embroiled in a major dispute with the satellite television provider over the terms of its broadcast contract.
On Sunday, September 1, ABC, ESPN, FX and other Disney-owned channels were cut off for DirecTV subscribers as the contract between the two companies expired without a new deal being negotiated. This happened during the final week of the U.S. Open tennis tournament and just a week before the start of the NFL season.
Accordingly DeadlineThere were no active talks between the two sides as of Tuesday, September 3. In addition, DirecTV CEO Ray Carpenter dismissed the notion that the entire situation would be resolved before the NFL’s Monday Night Football kicks off on September 9.
“We’re not playing a short-term game,” Carpenter said on a Wall Street conference call on September 3. deadline. “We need something that works for the long-term sustainability of our video customers. The determination is there.”
As of this writing, neither the Harris nor Trump campaigns have responded to the potential impact of the Disney-DirecTV dispute on the upcoming debate, but given the close polling between the two candidates, the loss of a significant portion of the viewership could significantly impact voting in November.
“It’s the law of unintended consequences,” said a Hollywood politician Deadline on the impact of the ban on the debate. “Dana Walden may be Harris’ buddy, (Bob) Iger may want to patch up the Republican constraints, so what? This is an existential threat to their business as linear television decline dies.”
The source continued: “I say the chances are 50/50 if they can reach an agreement by the time of the debate, and I doubt that’s a big factor in that agreement coming about.”
Although DirecTV users lost access to ABC, the network had previously said it would allow other networks to broadcast the debate simultaneously. The argument, which begins at 9 p.m. ET, will also be streamed live on Hulu and Disney+, as well as on ABC News Live.
“Given the variety of media outlets likely to broadcast the debate, I doubt this ban will greatly affect audience reach,” says Alan Schroeder, author of Presidential debates: 50 years of risky televisiontold Deadline“Anyone who wants to follow the debate has numerous options outside of Disney’s channel portfolio.”
Trump-Harris debate, Tuesday, September 10, 9 p.m. ET, ABC
