Latest TV blow for sports fans: No ESPN for 15 million cable customers

The old playbook when cable/satellite providers and prominent channels couldn't come to an agreement on carriage fees as contract deadlines loomed went something like this:

Each side would issue threats and complain that the other was asking for an unfair price. A seemingly firm deadline would be set. Informed viewers — often sports fans — would fret that they wouldn't be able to watch their favorite games or shows.

Then at the last-minute, there would be an extension. And maybe a second extension. And then the issue would be resolved with a price truce, and business would carry on without interruption.

The new playbook? It's far more cutthroat. As major carriers feel the sledgehammer of cord-cutting demolishing their subscriber bases while networks try to compete in a landscape with massive rights fees and increased competition, the negotiations reach a boiling point and channels suddenly disappear from millions of TV screens.

That's what happened Thursday night.

Charter/Spectrum, which has nearly 15 million subscribers nationwide — including some in Minnesota and a whole bunch in New York City and Los Angeles — lost all of its Disney-affiliated channels.

That includes ESPN and ESPN2, which were showing a prominent college football game (Florida vs. Utah) and a second-round U.S. Open tennis match between top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz and Lloyd Harris on Thursday when the channels were switched off.

Charter and Disney released statements that predictably blamed the other side for the point-of-no-return moment.

The United States Tennis Association? Not happy.

"We're very disappointed for our fans and viewers around the country that Spectrum and Charter could not resolve their dispute with Disney, resulting in a loss of ESPN coverage of Thursday night's matches. We're very hopeful that this dispute can be resolved as quickly as possible," USTA spokesman Chris Widmaier said in a statement.

As is often the case when billions of dollars are at stake, consumers are the losers.

While the outage doesn't affect a lot of Twin Cities residents, where Comcast is the dominant carrier, Charter is prominent in markets like Mankato and Rochester.

Most Minnesotans watching sports Thursday were likely tuned into the Gophers' stirring win over Nebraska on FOX, but eventually they might want to watch something on any of the ESPN channels, ABC and other Disney-owned channels, which are also included in the outage.

E-mailer Brian, who alerted me to this developing story with a note at 6:40 a.m. Friday, ended his dispatch with this: "Although negotiations continue, I don't know how I'm going to survive without my daily updates on the Dallas Cowboys or New York Jets."

Here are four more things to know today:

*I talked on Friday's Daily Delivery podcast about how Daniel Jackson's amazing toe-dragging catch in the Gophers' 13-10 comeback win over Nebraska changed the narrative of the game and might have a massive influence on the narrative of the whole season for both the Gophers and Huskers.

Had he not made that grab, imagine what we would be talking about today: A stalled offense suddenly focused on the pass that scored just three points and a severely diminished opportunity to win the Big Ten West.

*ESPN Analytics gave Nebraska a 94% chance of winning the game after it converted a first down near midfield with 5 minutes left while holding a 10-3 lead. A fumble, an impressive drive, an other-worldly catch, an interception and a clutch kick were all it took to make the Gophers' 6% chance of winning a reality.

*FanGraphs still gives the Twins about a 95% chance to win the AL Central and projects the winning margin to be about seven games over Cleveland. Bobby Nightengale and I talked about the closing stretch on Friday's show.

*Join me at the State Fair at 3 p.m. Saturday when I'm slated to talk to Minnesota Lynx head coach and President of Basketball Operations Cheryl Reeve on the Star Tribune stage.