Disney, Spectrum Carriage Dispute Could End Today, But Who Will Walk Away Victorious?
Somebody might be about to blink in the carriage dispute between Disney and Spectrum, the second-largest cable provider in the United States. Rich Greenfield, a partner at LightShed Ventures, took to Twitter to announce he’d heard multiple reports that a new carriage deal between the two sides will be struck on Monday, Sept. 11, before the first “Monday Night Football” game of the season is played.
Hearing multiple reports that Disney and Charter Spectrum will reach a deal before tomorrow’s Monday Night Football kickoff on ESPN & ABC 🏈🏈🏈
— Rich Greenfield, LightShed 🔦 (@RichLightShed) September 10, 2023
Interested to see what terms looks like and who caved on the big issues if a deal is reached $DIS $CHTR pic.twitter.com/FVrdhupnqI
The dispute first became official on Aug. 31, and it caused 19 Disney-owned cable channels to be removed from the cable lineups of all 14.7 million of Spectrum’s customers. Users in seven markets also lost access to their ABC station, and the dispute has caused Chris Winfrey, CEO of Spectrum’s operator Charter Communications, to say that he might pull his company away from traditional cable offerings if it goes on much longer.
Charter even went as far as to steer customers toward live TV streaming services like Fubo and YouTube TV last week. Both sides spoke out about the dispute late last week, and neither gave much room for hope that a resolution was forthcoming, leading many onlookers to believe that the dispute and subsequent blackouts could last weeks, if not months.
The continuing college football season and the start of the NFL slate may have pushed Charter and/or Disney to give a little ground, especially after the first NFL game of the season drew nearly 27 million viewers. If the dispute does end, it will be fascinating to see if Disney gave in on one of Charter’s most unique demands: that its Spectrum TV customers be granted free access to Disney streaming services with their subscriptions.
Even if the disagreement between Disney and Spectrum is resolved on Monday, it likely won’t be in time to stop a class-action lawsuit against Charter brought by subscribers in Florida from moving forward. Those customers are suing on the grounds that they’re being charged a full month’s bill for their Spectrum service despite not receiving all channels promised, in violation of state law. Some users who have called Spectrum to complain about the dispute have gotten a $15 credit off their bill, but that is not automatically applied.
The Disney-Spectrum carriage dispute might end up being relatively short-lived when it’s all said and done, but it will still prove to be a harbinger of things to come. As cable providers try any methods possible to keep their companies solvent, and channel owners like Disney try to prepare for life after cable, when streaming is the top way users get their entertainment.
Disney+
Disney+ is a video streaming service with over 13,000 series and films from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, The Muppets, and more. It is available in 61 countries and 21 languages. It is notable for its popular original series like “The Mandalorian,” “Ms. Marvel,” “Loki,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” and “Andor.”