EXCLUSIVE: In just over 60 days, one of the most important elections of modern times will take place. The neck-and-neck race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump has become embroiled in a dispute over the division of television channels between the Walt Disney Company and DirecTV.

A week before the first debate between the vice president and the former POTUS airs on ABC, the network is offline for DirecTV’s 11.3 million subscribers nationwide.

While the two sides are still officially in talks, given that their contract expired on September 1 and networks like ABC, the US Open and ESPN, FX, Disney Jr. and a dozen others suddenly went dark, there are no active discussions happening at this time, sources tell us.

Earlier on Tuesday, DirecTV CEO Ray Carpenter dismissed predictions that this would all be over on Sept. 9, when the big-ticket NFL starts with the New York Jets vs. San Francisco 49ers on ABC, ESPN and more Disney-owned channels. “We’re not playing a short-term game,” the executive said on a Sept. 3 Wall Street conference call about DirecTV’s desire to end the “bloated” packages that are believed to be driving consumers to cancel their cable subscriptions. “We need something that works for the long-term sustainability of our video customers. The determination is there.”

Neither the Harris nor the Trump campaign commented on Tuesday on the impact of the Disney-DirecTV feud on the debate. ABC News and parent company Disney also did not comment on the impact of the blackout on the Sept. 10 debate. However, with mail-in voting starting later this week in several states and jurisdictions like North Carolina sending mail-in ballots to registered voters who request them, the Harris-Trump debate could prove to be a deciding factor for millions of voters.

In a close election result, the loss of potential viewers has a disproportionately large impact.

“That’s the law of unintended consequences,” one Hollywood politician told Deadline of the blackout and the upcoming debate. “Dana Walden might be Harris’ buddy, (Bob) Iger might want to mend some Republican fences, so what?” he added of the Disney Entertainment co-chair and politically astute CEO. “This is an existential threat to their business as linear TV goes down the drain. I say it’s 50/50 if they can get a deal done by the time the debate happens, and I doubt that’s a big factor in getting that deal done.”

Not that DirecTV customers can’t watch Linsey Davis and David Muir’s primetime broadcasts ABC News Presidential Debate | Race for the White House event on September 10th. They just can’t watch it on ABC.

Even before the network went dark on DirecTV, and even before that disastrous Joe Biden-Trump debate on CNN on June 27, ABC said it would allow other networks to simulcast the showdown. The debate, beginning at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT in Philadelphia, will also be streamed in real time on Hulu and Disney+, as well as ABC News Live.

There has been no talk yet of moving the debate to another network, though Trump has been pushing for a Fox News event for weeks.

In some circles, the disappearance of the 16 Disney channels from DirecTV isn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

“Given the variety of media likely to cover the debate, I doubt this blackout will greatly affect the audience reach,” said Alan Schroeder, author of Presidential Debates: 50 Years of Risky TV told Deadline today. “Anyone who wants to watch the debate has plenty of options outside of Disney’s portfolio of channels.”

Schroeder noted that when CNN held its debate in June, the host network’s viewership was 9.5 million, compared to 51.3 million viewers overall. That means at least three-quarters of the audience was watching on other channels and platforms, he noted. “I expect something similar will be true for the Harris-Trump debate,” he said.

“I also expect Harris-Trump to have a higher rating than Biden-Trump. Voters traditionally pay more attention to the election after Labor Day, so the June debate came at a time when many people weren’t tuned into the campaign. Additionally, I think Harris will likely draw more viewers simply because she’s more of a novelty than Biden. And it’s entirely possible that this will be the only debate these two candidates participate in this cycle, which will further motivate audiences to watch.”

Disney Channels were completely shut down two days ago, halfway through ESPN2’s US Open. This is a major event on the sporting calendar, especially for coastal tennis fans.

ESPN’s first-ball-to-last-ball coverage draws consistent viewership and occasionally draws millions of viewers for high-profile matches. Solid ratings, coupled with the tournament’s appeal to high-end advertisers, led ESPN and the U.S. Tennis Association to reach an extension last week that will keep the Open on the Disney-owned outlet’s family of networks through 2037.

College football has already been discussed when the Disney vs. DirecTV clash went to Def Con 1.

The distribution dispute caused ESPN to go dark just before the start of LSU’s game against USC. Instead of the highly anticipated football game, viewers saw a slate that read: “Our contract with Disney, the provider of this channel, has expired. We appreciate your patience as we negotiate to provide you with more choice, flexibility and value.”

Tonight we saw traditional satellite, cable and internet-delivered DirecTV Stream service customers who are fans of The Bachelorette miss the season 21 finale.

Unlike next week’s live broadcast of the POTUS debate, viewers of The Bachelorette have to wait until tomorrow to find out who Jenn Tran chose. In that context, we have to wait until November 5th to find out who America chose.

Dade Hayes contributed to this post.