General Hospital
Disney Goes Dark on DirecTV Over Contract Dispute Impacting ‘General Hospital’ ‘The Bachelorette Finale’ and Potentially NFL ‘Monday Night Football’ Opener
In another carriage dispute, Disney-owned channels including ABC and ESPN have pulled its programming from satellite provider DirecTV. The blackout is affecting most of its 11 million-plus subscribers in the U.S.
The decision to remove their programming and channels comes after the two sides failed to come to terms on a new carriage agreement, a business impasse that has been spreading throughout the pay TV sector.
The move came around 4 p.m. PT Sunday, about one hour before ABC began its live coverage of 2024 season kickoff college football game between the USC Trojans and LSU Tigers.

Photo: AP
A looming deadline to come to terms would seem to be Monday, September 9th, when ABC/ESPN are set to air the season premiere of Monday Night Football featuring the return of Aaron Rodgers (after his last season-ending injury in his first game as the quarterback of the New York Jets), who are now set to take on the San Francisco 49ers in their first game of the 2024-2025.
Meanwhile, this week on Tuesday, September 3rd, the season finale of The Bachelorette is set to air from 8-11pm ET, and now that will not be shown now on DirecTV. General Hospital will also be dark if watching via DirecTV as of now, to catch the fallout from Sonny shooting Agent Cates from Friday’s August 30th cliffhanger.

Photo: ABC
In the decision to pull its programming, Disney execs argued they had no choice when the contract expiration hit Sunday afternoon. Disney maintains that DirecTV refused to pay market rates for its channels and won’t make a deal involving support for its Disney+, Hulu and ESPN streaming venture.
Disney chiefs, Dana Walden and Alan Bergman and ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro shared in a statement, “While we’re open to offering DirecTV flexibility and terms which we’ve extended to other distributors, we will not enter into an agreement that undervalues our portfolio of television channels and programs. We invest significantly to deliver the No. 1 brands in entertainment, news and sports because that’s what our viewers expect and deserve. We urge DirecTV to do what’s in the best interest of their customers and finalize a deal that would immediately restore our programming,”
For their stake in the matter, Rob Thun, chief content officer at DirecTV, shot back, “The Walt Disney Co. is once again refusing any accountability to consumers, distribution partners, and now the American judicial system. 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. They want to continue to chase maximum profits and dominant control at the expense of consumers – making it harder for them to select the shows and sports they want at a reasonable price.”

Photo: DirecTV
It should be noted, DirecTV has pushed its programming partners for greater flexibility in creating smaller, lower-cost channel bundles. ESPN and other sports channels are among the biggest drivers of annual programming cost increases for MVPDs (Multichannel Video Programming Distributor) such as DirecTV. Disney counters that the cost of sports rights are going up, not down and that it has been open to new options, apropos of the deal that also ended the Charter Communications standoff.
DirecTV also stated,”Disney fills its ABC broadcast network airtime with cheap-to-produce primetime gameshows, unscripted spinoffs, old former ABC hits, or simulcast content from other Disney-owned channels like ESPN while demanding ever-increasing prices from distributors and ultimately consumers.”
So, do you watch any of your favorite shows or sports programming on Disney-related channels on DirecTV? Do you hope the standoff gets settled sooner than later to enable your viewing habits to go back to “normal” if using the satellite provider? Share your thoughts on the dispute via the comment section below.
I hope the amount of viewers who subscribe to Direct TV, and if they watch GH.can be determined.
I pay 4.99 a month for CityTV thru the Amazon Prime at 9.99 a month to watch GH.
Everything else I watch I use a free digital annetta.
CityTv is the channel I cannot recieve thru my digital annetta, mostly due to a huge building blocking the signal.
I guess I would pay GH 15 bucks a month for the enjoyment it brings.
Manitoba Canada GH fan
Are you being charged $9.99 for CityTV through Prime now? CityTV site says it’s $4.99 but when I go to subscribe on Prime it says it costs $9.99. Is Amazon really up-charging by $5.00/mo?
We pay a lot of money for Direct TV this is unacceptable!
It is unexpected, I had no notice & now no ABC channels I like. I’m searching for another subscriber.
Me to so upset that we were not notified about this been a directtv coustmer for over 20 years
Absolutely Unacceptable !!! I’m tired of this! I swear every other day I’m worried about this happening , abc is the channel I watch the most! I need a new system, I need to learn more about streaming but I love my DVR any suggestions?
I pay alot of money for Direct TV. We better get our channels back. Or i’m NOT paying a Bill for channels we don’t get no more.They took my CBS off me now. Now I have ABC & the rest of the Disney channels taken off me. This is unacceptable I’ll quit paying Direct TV if they keep taking my channels off
Comcast is pulling a similar scam right now, with the “Big Ten Football Network”. At exactly the same time that the football conference did a major expansion by adding the 4 best college football programs on the west coast.
There’s always some version of this con going on between a cable or satellite franchise and a “content provider” and they’re always timed right for the start of a season, whether it’s football season, the fall TV season (which overlap anyway) or the “march madness” basketball season.
And they wonder why we use “bootleg” streams here in Hell?
I agree Comcast did the same thing with Bally Sports! I switched to the Direct channel think these big companies need some regulations this is hard enough too hard on us to pay for these services
Unacceptable- no notice- I pay a lot for direct tv and if Disney wants more for it’s service than the price would be passed on to consumers and then it should be my decision to stay with direct tv or not but to just be disconnected without any notice is NOT acceptable.
This is totally unexpected and a disservice to all the loyal customers. Both sides should be ashamed of themselves. Greed greed greed is what runs our country. We deserve better than this. We already are forced to pay way to much, if we want to watch our favorites shows. Enough is enough.
I join with everyone else I am truly upset with Directtv that they can’t agree or work it out with Disney. I miss watching my local news on 6ABC of Philadelphia, watching General Hospital and all the shows that I watch. So I hope everything is worked out by September 3, 2024.
I am totally in agreement with you. We all pay too much as it is for Direct/AT&T & I feel like it’s almost intentional. I would like for our state governments, commissioners to step in & assist citizens with this.
This is bs, always something! Do it during the superbowl
Do we get a discount since we can’t watch the games we paid extra to watch
Disney done gone woke
I’m in complete agreement with all of you. I had no idea this was happening! Today of all days, GH fallout from Friday’s show & The Bachelorette Finale‼️
Not quite understanding how you equate paying for broadcasting rites with “gone woke”. Please elaborate.
Sounds like no one wants to own up, do the right thing and not screw over customers. If it’s Disney doing this, then I hope Florida Governor Ron DeSantis penalizes them harshly. Do whatever you want to them. If it’s Directv, shame on you for screwing your customersagain. You charge us way too much and keep raising your prices. I was about to find another provider anyway before the end of the year and use streaming services Hulu. I can see Bachelorette finale on ABC.com but I shouldn’t have to as I am paying Directv for that.
Meatball Ron doesn’t have anything to say about this. Di$ney’s broadcasting & streaming division doesn’t have anything to do with Di$ney World in Orlando. Or Di$neyland in Anaheim, for that matter.
This would be ALL Disney’s greedy fault! They don’t consider there to be enough money in the Solar system , to make them happy!
What about the debate that is supposed to air on ABC 9/10/24? Probably the most important debate in history and these people pull the channel so 11 million of us can’t see it? Makes a person wonder, doesn’t it?
It does. But we should be able to find out how we can pull the plug on Direct
I just did by canceling and going with Dish Network!
That’s a very good point. How convenient. I’m going to get on the band wagon and call directv and have them reimburse me for the channels I don’t get that I’m paying for.
The debate will be simulcast on other networks, just like the first debate between Biden and Trump. So even if the Disney/DirectTV dispute isn’t resolved by then, you’ll be able to watch it on another channel besides ABC.
If your ABC TV feed is still disrupted because of this greed fueled dragonshit next week, I’m sure they will be carrying the debate on the “ABC News Live” digital channel. Which is available as a YouTube stream, and also listed among the “live channels” on most of your popular streaming platforms Tubi/Roku/Pluto/Xumo etc.
A couple of options for y’all … try a digital antenna! You can pull in 50-70 channels for free, usually including all of your local broadcast affiliates. For ABC/FOX programming, you can watch it all on a delay with just a basic Hulu account. Neither of these will help you with ESPN programming, but it will get you your ABC shows and events.
It’s on other channels. First thing I checked and DVR’d
Please get this settled and give us a discount on our Direct account
The only channel I watch. Even ABC news is tolerable. Nbc, terrible, CBS, terrible…
So now no football, no GH , hope we all get refund for however many days we can’t watch!!!
UNREAL!
This happens too much with them..I’m done with them..They want their payment on time and I want my shows on time.
I hope that this depute is over soon. We deserve to have no interution in our program and sports, My US Open tennis on now. I love it and it cut off in the middle of matches.
UnAcceptable no notice no nothing but still going to be charged the same amount of money. Something needs to be done.
Absolutely no excuse. GH is one of the shows I watch every day and now I have no idea what’s going on. This is inexcusable for both parties. It’s not the way to settle this at the cost of subscribers
Put ABC CHANNEL 7 INCHICAGO BACK ON
Unacceptable they turned it off without any warning that’s nuts. Hope they come to agreement soon I’m a GH fan and missing my news as well.
I agree unacceptable to turr it off no notice. They need to refund us for the channels we can’t watch.
Pay them what they want and leave politics out of this.
Boo directv. We pay so much for your services. It’s time to look for a new provider. I’m so disappointed in this whole mess.
Just to let you know if we lose ABC or anymore channel we will change carriers…we already pay to much for the channels we like…so be advised you will lose a customer
I get dtv stream and it affects me too and we pay to much money for l this crap they show now fix it and I don’t mean raising our prices!!!! Next time give us warning these channels should be free!!
Greed is unstoppable, my Direct bill gos up & up , too expensive to go to Disney:: welcome to America Fire Stick here I come
If Direct TV don’t figure it out lm changing to someone else l need my General Hospitaluyquuhww
I had ATT for years – recently Uverse. When I had trouble with that I switched to Direct TV Streaming about 2 years ago. This is second time in a year we have lost ABC, which I watch for news,football and GH. I am going to check into other options for streaming to get live national and local newscasts I like, football and GH. I have Hulu and can watch GH the next day, but after a cliff hanger last Friday, the Labor Day rerun I was very disappointed not to be able to watch today when it was broadcast. It is very frustrating to pay for a service and not get it.
My one pleasure for the day is to record General Hospital and watch it in the evening I also enjoy Free form channel
I also pay Directv a lot of money so now I have to come to my daughters house to watch GH. Not fair to me or her So do I need to get another cable co or what .
Also 911 series just changed to ABC network starts this month new season hurry get my channels back
This is ridiculous. ATT is higher than most and we’re getting less than others. I’m searching for a new carrier. They lost this long time bundled client
SO UPSET!! I have watched General Hospital since day, one and now suddenly at 75 years of age I can’t watch it because of all this damn technology and crap. Not to mention the cost so ridiculous and now it’s not I won’t be able to watch the finale of the bachelorette either. Life is short and when you get old TV keeps you occupied and happy so much for happiness.
I am. Missing GH. Resolve your issues
It sucks if I can find a streaming company that’s not affected by this crap I will change providers. I might just go back to whatever channels I can get from my antenna. At least I won’t be pay these outragous prices, to get screwed over by greedy businesses.
I need ABC channel to go back on that’s one of the reasons I pay Direct tv they need to fix this ASAP!!! Like NOW
Yes, well, I have been on the fence about whether to give up a life long habit of watching GH. It’s gotten so bad. Looks like the contract dispute made the decision for me.
If this is not settled this week
I will be changing tv providers
I am elderly , live rurally been dtv customer for 20 years. What idiot takes off ESPN and sec on opening football weekend. I pay extra for sports pkg. guess dish will have new customer if it’s not settled by this weekend , been waiting for fall football since playoffs in Jan, really a dumbass administration.
It’s all about the Benjamin’s $$$!
My mom lives in an assisted living facility that uses DirecTV what a shame since she watches Channel 7 exclusively Disney with its billions of dollars has screwed poor elderly people out of some viewing pleasure total drag
Is Disney putting the squeeze on General Hospital? Crazy storylines…willow and Drew, really? Great actor departures…what’s up?
I am 78 years old and retired. I have been watching General Hospital for over 40 years. Please don’t take that show off and please settle this. Thank you
To estimate how many of the 10 million DIRECTV subscribers might be among the 2 million people who watch *General Hospital* daily, we can use the following approach:
1. **Proportion of U.S. households with DIRECTV:** As of recent data, DIRECTV had around 10 million subscribers, and there are approximately 123 million households in the U.S. This means about 8.13% of U.S. households have DIRECTV.
2. **Proportion of DIRECTV households among viewers:** If we assume the viewership of *General Hospital* is uniformly distributed across different TV providers, then approximately 8.13% of the 2 million *General Hospital* viewers would be DIRECTV subscribers.
– **Calculation:**
\[
2,000,000 \times 0.0813 \approx 162,600
\]
So, an estimated **162,600 DIRECTV subscribers** are among the 2 million people who watch *General Hospital* daily.
This estimate assumes that viewership is evenly distributed among TV providers, which may not be perfectly accurate but provides a reasonable approximation. It’s all about the math.
I live in Louisiana. I don’t have DirecTV. But…in my neck of the woods, I know A LOT of people who have DirecTV. And…they are not gonna be very happy whenever they hear this. At all.
I’ve been watching WABC tv since I was born, I only got direct tv, because I had this same problem with Spectrum, however now I see that the common denominator is Disney. Disney even wants to own all these channels under the guise that they are offering Affordable bundles, however in order to watch other channels that people wish to watch we have to have cable cable and 10,000 bundle packages, I want to watch most of my channels under one package bundle, bundle, bundle, holding customers hostage by being a monopolizer of television networks. Disney Should either offer cable packages or lead things up to programming networks. Disney was built on the principles of family friendly entertainment. Yet now Disney has become divisive and controlling. I don’t find this practice fair to consumers, and I am quite frankly a little upset. I changed cable packages just for this reason only to find out that Disney is the guilty one.
General Hospital
Kelly Sullivan Gives High Praise to ‘General Hospital’s’ Maura West Recalling When Ava Shot Connie (Exclusive)

It was just over 13 years ago on General Hospital when Ava Jerome (Maura West) shot and killed Kate Howard/Connie Falconeri (Kelly Sullivan) in an effort to keep her quiet from revealing that Derek Wells was actually Ava’s back-from-the-dead brother, Julian Jerome (William deVry). It’s a crime that somehow Ava never has quite paid for either.
The episode back aired on August 13, 2013 and viewers had to say goodbye to Kelly Sullivan who played Kate and her alter, Connie. In the story, just before she died, Kate/Connie scrawled the letters AJ in her own blood, initially making the PCPD and Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) think that it was AJ Quatermaine (Sean Kanan) who did the deed.
Now, Sullivan recalled sharing scenes with the three-time Daytime Emmy-winning West, during a live conversation on You Tube’s Michael Fairman Channel. Kelly was the special guest talking about her recent return to the soaps in her new role as The Bold and the Beautiful’s Darcy Dylan.

Photo: JPI
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF MAURA WEST
Speaking of her final GH scenes and working with Maura West, Sullivan gave her then GH co-star major props. “If you’re going to be shot by somebody (on the soaps), you want to be shot by Maura West, c’mon!”
Maura West debuted back in May 2013 as Ava, and Sullivan remembered when the As the World Turns favorite began on GH. “I remember when Maura West first arrived at GH. She walked in with this cute little bob (hairdo) and she’s just delicious,” shared Sullivan.
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
Kelly revealed more about Maura, adding “I think she’s amazing! I remember right before I left the show, someone suggested, and I would still love to do this with her, if she ever want to, but someone suggested that they wanted to direct the stage play A Streetcar Named Desire with Maura and I, where I would play Stella and she would play Blanche! Wouldn’t that be great?”
Speaking of the Ava/Connie showdown scenes, Sullivan expressed, “On television and on General Hospital specifically, Maura West is able to play a character who does the most horrendous things and you still care about her and that’s the mark of a really great actor. In other words, you’re able to be liked in the midst of the most horrendous things, and as a performer not shying away from that, and to just have the courage to do what’s on the page (in the script).”

Photo: JPI
KELLY SULLIVAN PARTING THOUGHTS AS SHE LEFT GENERAL HOSPITAL
Kelly also shared her sentiments when she walked off the set of General Hospital after her run back in August of 2013. “I really was honored. Every day I would go to work and I would say a little prayer, which is I want to do justice for my character, explained Kelly. “It’s between me and my character. I get to walk this path with her and to leave the show on that note, which is, I left every out there. I just gave it my all and again what an honor it was to play Kate/Connie.”
You can catch the full conversation with Kelly where she talks about her time on General Hospital, The Young and the Restless where she played Sage Warner and now The Bold and the Beautiful below.
So, do you remember the Ava and Connie scenes where Ava shot and killed her? What did you think of Kelly Sullivan’s sentiments about Maura West? Share your thoughts via the comment section. But first, watch the reveal where Ava recalls murdering Connie below!
General Hospital
Steve Burton Reportedly Signs Three-Year Contract with ‘General Hospital’

The question of will Steve Burton (Jason Morgan) stay awhile at General Hospital after his recent extended hiatus from the show earlier this year, has reportedly been answered.
TMZ via court documents obtained in Burton’s ongoing legal battle with his ex-wife Sheree Gustin, shared that Steve actually inked a new three year deal with the ABC soap opera back in June.
That is significant because it was June when Burton returned back to work as Jason. In addition, the court filing confirmed that Burton had already moved back to California from Tennessee.

Photo: ABC
STEVE’S HIATUS AND HIS RETURN TO PORT CHARLES
GH fans will recall, it was back in February of 2026, that Burton announced via his Instagram that he was stepping away from his role of Jason Morgan for short break and pointed to wanting to spend quality time with his new wife, Michelle Lundstrom Burton with whom he tied the knot back on May 17, 2025.
Steve expressed at that time, “I’m newly married and looking forward to spending some quality time with my family.” It was back on March 25 that viewers saw Jason carted away by the WSB after taking the fall for Rocco Falconeri (Finn Carr) who shot then WSB Director Ross Cullum (Andrew Hawkes).
Burton returned to work on June 1, and due to General Hospital taping roughly six weeks ahead of air, made his on-screen comeback on the July 13 episode.
GOING FOR GOLD AT THE UPCOMING DAYTIME EMMYS
Then, Steve and his enduring fans got an extra special treat on the same day, when it was revealed on Extra that he was nominated for the upcoming 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Daytime Drama Series category.
Steve previously won in the Supporting Actor category for his work as General Hospital’s Jason in 1998 and as The Young and the Restless’ Dylan McAvoy in 2018.
Now with Jason and Britt’s (Kelly Thiebaud) relationship seemingly hitting the skids, plus Jason’s commitment to staying out of mob life to focus on being present for his son Danny Morgan (Asher Antonyzyn), what does the future hold for the fan favorite character? Stay tuned.
So, happy to hear that Steve Burton signed a new three year deal with General Hospital? Knowing that, what storyline would you like to see Jason get involved and with who? Share your thoughts and theories via the comment section.
General Hospital
GENERAL HOSPITAL: Jason and Britt Reach an Impasse; Is This the End of Their Relationship?

On the Friday, September 11 episode of General Hospital, Jason (Steve Burton) and Britt’s (Kelly Thiebaud) relationship becomes strained to potentially the point of no return.
Things take a turn when an unglued Britt having been traumatized by almost being killed by Anna Devane (Finola Hughes) asks Jason to back her up with the PCPD when she reports Anna for attempted murder.
However, Jason told Britt, he can’t. Jason shares that he does not believe Anna would have gone through with shooting her. Therefore, Britt was not in any real imminent danger. Britt is flabbergasted and hurt that Jason is refusing to tell the police what he actually witnessed for himself on Mount Emerson.

Courtesy/ABC
BRITT WANTS BACK UP FROM JASON
Jason counters that he can’t believe that Britt would want Anna punished. or sent to prison, or a mental facility after the trauma she endured while being locked up and mentally tortured while at Wyndemere.
He asks Britt, “How could you even say that you want her locked up or prosecuted for what she did when you knew she was being held prisoner and you did nothing to save her?” Britt is stunned by Jason’s response.
Coming up, official General Hospital spoilers share that on the upcoming Monday, September 14 episode, Jason confides in Carly (Laura Wright), while Britt is stung. In the video preview that aired at the end of the Friday, September 11 episode for this coming Monday, Britt says to Jason, “You don’t believe me. Do you?”
General Hospital head scribes, Chris Van Etten and Elizabeth Korte previously teased in their fall preview of the soap, “Britt and Jason have come a long way and fought a lot of enemies to be together. But the most stubborn obstacle to their happiness isn’t without, it’s within. Decisions Britt made to stay alive while under Cullum’s thumb will come back to haunt her and may prove too difficult for this unlikely couple to survive.”
So, what do you think will happen? Will Jason and Britt break-up over Britt’s lies and Jason’s unwillingness to report Anna’s crime against her? Do you want Jason and Britt to go their separate ways? If they do, will Britt become romantically involved with Dr. Tristan Roberts (Dean Geyer) ? If so, who do you pair Jason with? Anyone? Weigh-in via the comment section.
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