Disney’s request to restore ABC for Trump-Harris debate touches off more squabbling

In this combination of photos taken in Pennsylvania, the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, speaks at a campaign event on Aug. 18 in Rochester; and her Republican opponent, former President Trump, speaks during a campaign event on Aug. 19 in York. Early Tuesday, Disney offered to restore the ABC network to DirecTV, U-Verse and DirecTV Stream customers for tonight’s highly anticipated debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump, which ABC News is hosting. “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.” DirecTV responded that it would go along with the request to restore ABC for the debate if Disney accepted a more comprehensive compromise: The El Segundo-based satellite TV provider asked Disney to allow it to run the full suite of Disney channels, including ABC and ESPN, for an additional week as the two sides worked to hammer out a new distribution accord. On Monday, millions of DirecTV customers missed ESPN’s kickoff of “Monday Night Football” — a highly anticipated game that saw the San Francisco 49ers ground the New York Jets. Disney’s eight owned ABC stations, including KABC-TV in Los Angeles, are blacked out on DirecTV and U-Verse, meaning viewers are missing local newscasts, “Good Morning America,” “The View,” “Jeopardy!,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and now the debate.