How The ABC-DirecTV Feud Affects General Hospital Viewers

ABC

A strange thing happened for DirecTV subscribers this past Sunday that will now affect soap fans during the week — talks broke down between the third-largest cable subscription service and Disney, which owns ESPN and also, more importantly for General Hospital fans, ABC Network.

Soap Opera Twist

According to The Hollywood Reporter , the two entities came to an impasse and now 11 million customers are without access to these stations. “The Walt Disney Co. is once again refusing any accountability to consumers, distribution partners, and now the American judicial system,” said DirecTV's chief content officer, Rob Thun, in a statement after the channels went black. “Disney is in the business of creating alternate realities, but this is the real world where we believe you earn your way and must answer for your own actions." He accused the corporate giant of putting profits and control over consumers.

The co-chairmen of Disney Entertainment and ESPN released their own statement about DirecTV denying their millions of customers their content during the final week of the U.S. Open, the opening of the NFL season and college football, saying they didn't want to undervalue what they contribute. They ended their statement with, "We urge DirecTV to do what’s in the best interest of their customers and finalize a deal that would immediately restore our programming."

Disney found itself in a similar situation last year, when they had a dispute with Charter Spectrum. That blackout lasted for two weeks. In the end, subscribers weren't made to pay more but Disney cut some of their cable channels from the their lineup.

This is a pivotal time for GH fans, seeing as Friday kicked off a big story with Sonny shooting John "Jagger" Cates (check out this week's promo for a glimpse of what's in store in the aftermath), plus the recent returns of Jonathan Jackson as Lucky Spencer and Rick Hearst as Ric Lansing , not to mention the imminent comeback of Emma Samms as Holly Sutton and the upcoming story that revolves around the exit of longtime star Kelly Monaco as Sam McCall.

How long will the blackout last? That's the biggest cliffhanger of all.