Local ABC station KABC-TV Ch. 7 and 18 more Disney-owned channels including ESPN networks, Freeform, FX and National Geographic went dark at 5 p.m. Pacific Time on Spectrum TV Service.
The channels were pulled after the two parties were not able to negotiate a carriage agreement on time.
“We’ve been in ongoing negotiations with Charter Communications for some time and have not yet agreed to a new market-based agreement,” said Disney in a statement.
Some of the programming Spectrum customers won’t have due to the blackout include the U.S. Open tennis tournament and PAC-12 football games including today’s much-anticipated NCAA match-up between Utah and Florida.
“We would agree to The Walt Disney Company’s significant rate increase despite their declining ratings. But they are trying to force our customers to pay for their very expensive programming,” said Charter in a statement.
Owned by Charter Communications, Spectrum is the second largest cable TV service in the US.
