NEW YORK — A headache for the NFL has been the standoff between Spectrum/Charter and Disney Entertainment.
Spectrum subscribers in New York City could be blacked out from viewing Aaron Rodgers' Jets debut on Monday night against Buffalo because ESPN and WABC went dark on Aug. 31.
Buffalo also has a heavy presence of Spectrum subscribers, but they will be able to see the game because the ABC station is not owned by Disney. That is the same situation in Milwaukee and Green Bay, where Rodgers played for 18 seasons before being traded to New York during the offseason.
In some good TV news for the league, Detroit's 21-20 victory over Kansas City averaged 26.8 million viewers on NBC, Peacock and the league's digital properties, a 24% increase over last year's opener when Buffalo routed the Los Angeles Rams.
Thursday night's audience was just shy of the 26.9 who watched the 2021 opener, when Tampa Bay defeated Dallas on a last-second field goal.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul is weighing in on a contract dispute between Charter/Spectrum and the Walt Disney Company.
Governor Hochul is calling on the Department of Public Service to hold Charter Spectrum accountable an disuse refunds to New York customers who lost programming to sporting events on ESPN and programming on Disney channels,.
It's simple: if you pay your cable bill, you deserve to get the services you pay for,” Governor Hochul said. “An ongoing corporate dispute is forcing customers to miss some of the highest profile televised events of the year – the least these companies can do is provide a refund. Disney and Charter must continue negotiating in good faith to ensure affordability and consumer choice. I also urge Disney to continue providing its programming under the terms of the prior agreement while negotiations continue. My Administration is committed to consumer protections for all New Yorkers."
**