College football fans miss out

By Michael Butler

Local cable television customers were left scrambling moments before kickoff of the college football season last week. 

Thursday night's Florida/Utah game was a highly anticipated starter for the Labor Day weekend college slate. Pigskin fans watched the pregame and then got a message on their screens from Spectrum Cable.

"The Walt Disney Company, the owner of this channel has removed their programming from Spectrum which creates hardship for our customers. We apologize for the inconvenience and are continuing to negotiate in good faith in order to reach a fair agreement."

The pulling of the plug based on a dispute in negotiations also meant that weekend offerings from ESPN would not be an option for Spectrum customers. Florida/Utah was just the tip of the iceberg.

Alabama and Auburn were opening their seasons on the ESPN family of networks as well. Tide and Tiger fans were searching for other options.

HDD Broadband, a Tallassee-based company, made this post on their Facebook page.

"Are you losing ESPN right here at the start of football season? You should give us a call!! You can pair our fast and dependable fiber to the home internet with your choice of streaming service to not miss a moment of your team's game!"

HDD posted its rates for those in its service area starting at $55 per month for 100 megabits per second.

As of Monday, ESPN was still not available via Spectrum. Some customers have already made the change to internet subscription-based services like YouTube TV and Hulu. Others are calling their neighbors who already have the service.