Overview

• The Handbasket newsletter reports more than 1.7 million paid cancellations across Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN from September 17 to 23, a 436% increase above baseline churn.
• Kimmel was suspended indefinitely on September 17 over comments about Charlie Kirk’s shooting, following preemption moves by Nexstar and Sinclair after a public warning from FCC chair Brendan Carr.
• ABC and Disney returned Jimmy Kimmel Live! on September 23, with Nexstar and Sinclair lifting preemptions by September 26.
• Celebrities and viewers urged boycotts of Disney streaming services during the hiatus, with high-profile calls to cancel subscriptions circulating online.
• Reporting links the cancellations to the controversy as well as ongoing discontent over price hikes and a password-sharing crackdown, including an earlier loss of roughly 700,000 subscribers this year.