• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, August 27, 2010

As Disney urges customers to drop Time Warner Cable to avoid losing ESPN and ABC, the cable operator is getting tough. Its ads suggest that Disney has a penchant for yanking channels, so moving to another carrier doesn't offer viewers a safety net.

"Already this year, they've pulled the plug on two other TV providers, so switching won't help," TWC says in a new ad.

On a TWC blog, the anti-Disney rhetoric was slightly more acrimonious on Friday. A member of the TWC external relations staff wrote: "If they've done it with those two and they're threatening to do it to us, there's a definite pattern emerging. Switching providers isn't going to get rid of a problem with Disney when Disney is the problem."

TWC is referring to Disney briefly removing ABC from Cablevision homes during the Oscar broadcast, and then pulling HD feeds of four of its channels off Dish Network. Disney has said its deal with Cablevision was long expired, while a court ruling validated its position that Dish had no right to offer the HD channels.

Disney is now threatening to remove ESPN, ABC and other networks from homes served by TWC and Bright House Networks at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, unless a new payment agreement is reached.

In its new TV spot, TWC says it's laboring to cut a deal, but "only Disney can take those channels away from you ... Time Warner Cable will keep your channels on the air unless Disney takes them away." TWC then points viewers to its RollOverOrGetTough.com advocacy site.

Disney issued a statement Friday saying: "We're very focused on reaching a fair agreement with Time Warner Cable. At this stage, finger pointing is not constructive in getting a deal done."

Disney has been running spots saying that it is increasingly likely the dispute will result in its channels off TWC and Bright House, while pointing subscribers to another carrier.

On its IHaveChoices.com site, it urges TWC customers to switch to DirecTV, AT&T U-verse or Verizon FiOS -- or to go with what would have been rabbit ears back in the day.

It does not mention Dish as an option -- where the four HD feeds are still off the air. On the flip side, its suggestions that customers consider over-the-air TV is curious, since that would leave people without ESPN or the Disney Channel.

Service in about 15 million homes nationwide could be affected if the dispute is not resolved. TWC, with about 12.7 million of the homes, is negotiating on behalf of Bright House.

Cable channels such as ESPN, Disney Channel and SoapNet could be removed from the bulk of the 15 million. In New York, Los Angeles, Raleigh-Durham and other areas, the local ABC station could be removed.

In markets where Disney owns the ABC stations, the company is seeking retransmission-consent payments for TWC to offer the network with "Grey's Anatomy" and "Dancing with the Stars."