Amid DirecTV dispute, Disney allowing blacked-out customers to catch Tuesday’s presidential debate

An ongoing dispute between ABC News’ parent company, Disney, and DirecTV had threatened to leave millions of customers in the dark for Tuesday night’s presidential debate on ABC. 

However, Disney has announced it is allowing the viewers to watch the face-off between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Disney-owned networks, including ABC, Freeform and ESPN, have been dark for more than 11 million DirecTV customers since Sept. 1. 

A rep for Disney stated, “Although we have yet to reach an agreement, we are providing a three-hour feed of ABC News coverage to all impacted DirecTV customers at no cost because we want all Americans to be able to view tonight’s debate at this important moment in our history.”

The company adds, “We remain at the table negotiating with DirecTV and the restoration of our programming to their subscribers is completely within their control.”

At issue is a dispute over the two companies’ so-called “carriage agreement” — the fee the satellite TV service pays Disney for access to its programming. Disney is seeking a higher fee, but DirecTV claims in a complaint to the FCC filed recently that Disney is negotiating in “bad faith.” 

The presidential debate airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.

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