Hope Restored: DirecTV Reverses Decision, ABC News Returns

UPDATE. 12:43 PM: There will be no presidential debate on ABC for DirecTV customers tonight.

“Unfortunately, DirecTV has rejected our offer,” a Disney spokesperson bluntly told Deadline just now. As talks go on with DirecTV over a new carriage contract and Disney channels remain dark on the service, the Mouse House proposed three-hour primetime carve out for the first match-up between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

Almost 10 days into the dispute that has seen all of the 16 Disney channels on DirecTV essentially disappear, the satellite cable company today said that it was not interested in making a one-time only deal for tonight’s historic debate. A decision that was made because DirecTV were apparently worried subscribers would get confused.

“On Tuesday, Disney requested a unique exception to return ABC-only for tonight because it’s hosting the 2024 Presidential Debate, an event widely available across other major broadcast stations and news networks,” DirectTV wrote online this afternoon. “Unfortunately, returning only Disney’s ABC stations from the entire portfolio of channels for a limited 3-hour window will cause customer confusion among those who would briefly see the debate only to lose the channel again shortly after.”

Or does this all come down to football for DirecTV?

RELATED: 2024 Presidential Election Debate Schedule: Dates, Times, Who’ll Be There & Who Won’t

On a rather long blog post, the company Tuesday went on to say: “DIRECTV agreed to return ABC in time for tonight’s Presidential Debate if Disney is also willing to return all its channels across platforms through the end of at 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday, Sept. 17. Returning the Disney-owned channels for the next week while we work to reach a new agreement would benefit customers who would regain access to ABC for the debate and the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony on Sunday, Sept. 16 as well as their favorite college and professional football games on ABC and ESPN, ACC or SEC networks.”

DirecTV assert that their offer to bring ABC and the 15 other Disney channels back for a week “remains on the table.”

BTW – the Emmys are on September 15, not September 16 as DirecTV just wrote in the heat of this battle. While unavailable on ABC for DirecTV customers, tonight’s 9 pm ET/6 pm PT starting debate is being simulcast on CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, the BBC, and C-Span. The debate will also be live streamed on Hulu.

The actual debate itself is being held several blocks away, at the National Constitution Center, sealed off by a security perimeter that takes up about half of Independence Mall. Although there is no debate signage visible from outside the fencing, a smattering of campaign supporters already had gathered in an open area of the mall. One man’s sign read “Kamala Loves Hamas.” A woman’s large banner read “Loser,” in the Trump campaign typeface. There was at least one vendor selling solely Harris merchandise, including a T-shirt that read “The Prosecutor Vs. The Felon.”

As of yet, there is no more debates officially scheduled between Vice President Harris and former president Trump. However, their respective running mates Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) will go head-to-head on October 1 on CBS.