Plenty of Florida State fans in Tallahassee and across the heart of ACC Country are still without the ACC Network due to Comcast's holdout.

The largest cable provider in the country with over 21 million subscribers has still not agreed to terms with ESPN and its parent company Disney to carry the network which launched in August.

Comcast's deal with Disney doesn't expire for another two years.

While this explains why Comcast may be in no hurry to make the deal, FSU's Associate Athletic Director for New Revenue Generation and Marketing Jason Dennard said Thursday that conversations haven't ceased.

"There's still dialogue going on with Comcast," Dennard, who has been a major liaison between FSU and ESPN, told the Democrat.

"I wouldn't say that anybody feels like it's imminent, that it's going to happen anytime soon, other than just there's continued dialogue between the two."

The current standing of the deal doesn't leave ESPN much leverage, but that didn't stop Dish Network from negotiating a new deal.

FSU Athletic Director David Coburn said at FSU's Athletics board meeting Wednesday that negotiations between Comcast and Disney are at a "brick wall" and that he isn't optimistic a deal will be reached any time soon, according to Warchant.com.

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Dish was on a similar timeline with a deal going well into the future, but negotiated a new deal to include the ACC Network mere hours before Clemson hosted Georgia Tech in the first football game on the network Aug. 29.

"There's not a ton of leverage as it pertains to that, but, you know, the same thing could have been said about Dish Network as well," Dennard said.

"Their deal was up in 2022 and they popped. These things can change on a dime. It really just comes down to how much people want to watch it or not."

Outcry from Dish Network subscribers played a significant role in this last second deal. There's hope that continued ire from Comcast subscribers could have a similar effect.

However, FSU fans are still being urged to find another provider that carries the ACC Network, at least temporarily. The Seminoles' home football game against North Carolina State Sept. 28 at 7:30 p.m. will be the third FSU game this season that is available exclusively on the ACC Network.

"Ultimately, people are gonna have to make a decision on if you're waiting," Dennard said.

"If you're waiting for Comcast to do it, you may be waiting for a while or you may not, but it's just the unknown at this point."

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While Comcast remains out, the early returns on subscriber numbers are overwhelmingly positive. Coburn said that the ACC Network is in over 40 million households -- well over the launch numbers for the SEC Network and other conference networks -- and that new deals with AT&T U-Verse and DIRECTV seem imminent.

"By every measure that (the ACC and ESPN) had in place, we're past where they thought we'd be at this time in terms of subscriptions," Dennard said.

"I know a lot of the focus is on what carrier isn't signed up yet, but there are a lot of successes to celebrate, specifically the number of households we're in a month in from the launch date. It blew everything out of the water in terms of expectations.

"That is a big win for Florida State and for the conference. It's huge."

You can reach Curt Weiler at cweiler@tallahassee.com.