Tennis star can't watch his competitors due to Spectrum-Disney holdout
One of the world's top players admits that he's watching the U.S. Open on illegal streaming services.
Daniil Medvedev is trying to win his second U.S. Open in the last three years, but he's encountering a bit of an issue when trying to scout his fellow competitors.
The current World No. 3 men's tennis player said he's unable to watch the games on TV because the hotel he's staying in is serviced by Spectrum, which has blacked out channels of The Walt Disney Co. (DIS) - Get Free Report since Aug. 31 due to an ongoing contract dispute.
"In a lot of hotels, they have Spectrum, so I can not watch it on TV anymore," Medvedev said.
Related: Disney doubles down on Spectrum dispute with call to sign up for Hulu
Medvedev has already made it to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open, but he's facing stiff competition from several top stars who are still in the running including World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, 23-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic, and top-ranked Americans Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe.
So the Russian said he's resulted to finding "pirate" websites in order to follow the matches of his competition.
"I don't know if it's legal or illegal, but I have to find a way because I can't watch it on TV," Medvedev admitted. "I have no other choice."
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About 14.7 million Spectrum subscribers have been affected by the Disney blackouts, which include channels like ESPN and ESPN2 that are consistently airing most of the U.S. Open matches.
There's no telling when the holdout will end -- Disney has already released a statement pushing its subscribers to its streaming service Hulu. But it does come at an inopportune time for both parties considering that not only is the major tennis championship going on, but NCAA college football returned last week, while the NFL returns on Sept. 7.
Daniil Medvedev can’t watch the US Open because his hotel has Spectrum:
“A lot of hotels have Spectrum. So I can’t watch on TV anymore. I don’t know if it’s illegal, but I have to find a way. Probably pirate websites.. I have no other choice”
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