A Tampa, Florida, attorney has proposed the first of what seems like could ultimately be numerous class-action suits tied to the ongoing carriage dispute between Charter Communications and Disney.
Billy Howard's team, the Florida Gators, had their college football opener against Utah blacked out when Charter took down ESPN Thursday. The lawyer said in his proposed class-action complaint, filed on behalf of Charter customer “Jen Gonzalez,” that the cable company “yanked the plug on college football fans and then blamed Mickey Mouse.”
Charter took down ESPN, ABC and 24 other Disney channels from its pay TV programming grid Thursday. The cable operator said that fundamental changes to the way Disney licenses its content networks must first be made before they can be restored.
The plaintiffs, however, don't want to hear about Charter's problems. The suit contends that Charter could have extended the expired deal and kept Disney's channels on its service but chose not to.
“Family and friends across America were eagerly waiting for the highly anticipated, beginning of college football, beginning on August 31, 2023, at 8:00 p.m,” the complaint adds. “Instead, the Gator Nation, along with football fans across the country experienced a ‘Lucy taking the football away from Charlie Brown’ moment as Spectrum pulled the football game, broadcasted a blackout and then claimed, ‘Disney made us do it.’ ”
