Following on from Disney’s cable networks being blacked out for Spectrum cable subscribers across the United States over a carriage dispute due to Disney wanting to increase its fees and Charter Communications wanting Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ included for free in the deal, a new lawsuit has been filed in Flordia against Charter Communications over the issue.

John and Jen Gonzalez, has filed the lawsuit in a Florida federal court and is alleging that Charter has continued to bill him for services that have not been delivered. While the discount isn’t automatic, Spectrum customers have been able to get $15 off their monthly bill by phoning up and complaining, but this does often take hours of being stuck on the phone to rectify.

The lawsuit specifically puts the blame on Charter Communications for failing to come to an agreement with Disney over the loss of television channels, because Disney had offered to continue negotiations without blacking out the channels. Jen states in the lawsuit:

Unlike other cable providers, Spectrum, “declined Disney’s offer to extend negotiations which would have kept Disney-owned networks up for consumers in the middle of perennial programming events like the US Open and college football.” Instead of providing the programming its viewers pay hundreds of dollars a month for, Spectrum, in the middle of the U.S. Open, college football and the start of the Labor Day weekend – easily one of the busiest TV weekends of the year, decided to use sport’s fans and other spectrum consumers as a pawn in a clear money grab. To make matters worse they attempted to divide people and anger them with an anti-Disney campaign

According to Deadline, the lawsuit states that “Spectrum pulled the plug on college football and then blamed Mickey Mouse.” And added that Spectrum pulled the football game, broadcasted a blackout, and then claimed, “Disney made us do it.”

This lawsuit is looking to require that Charter provide the missing Disney channels or that customers are reimbursed automatically. And states that losing the channels is an alleged breach of contract and that they are using deceptive trade practices.

Last week, Disney hit back at the claims by Spectrum, who say that the cable system is broken and they’ve got a plan to keep their business going, by bundling the streaming services together, since they view they are funding the content on Disney+ and their customers should get the streaming packages included in the price of cable.  Disney replied, stating it does not make economic sense for them to provide Spectrum customers free access to their streaming services, nor does it make sense for consumers who desire the flexibility to have our streaming platforms as standalone services.

Do you think this lawsuit has merit?  Let us know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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