Disney and Charter Reach Agreement, End Spectrum Dispute

Facts

• Disney and Charter Communication — the parent company of Spectrum cable company — have reached an agreement that will allow Spectrum customers to access Disney’s programming, including ABC and ESPN, thereby ending an 11-day dispute.¹
• On Aug. 31, Spectrum removed Disney-owned channels from its cable subscriptions due to a dispute over carriage fees – the amount of money cable companies pay networks to air their channels — which left customers without access to NCAA and NFL football games, US Open tennis matchups, and many popular channels.²
• On Monday, the two sides reached an agreement that was effective immediately, allowing Spectrum subscribers to watch Aaron Rodgers’ highly anticipated debut with the New York Jets on Monday Night Football. The game was broadcast on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2.³
• Terms of the new agreement were not made public, but Charter previously paid Disney $2.2B per year for the right to distribute its channels. 19 Disney-owned channels will return to viewers across 41 states, but Baby TV, Disney Junior, FXX, and Nat Geo Wild, among others, will not be available on Spectrum.⁴
• Some Spectrum TV packages will include Disney’s ad-supported streaming apps Disney+ and ESPN+, while customers with those packages will have access to ESPN’s independent streaming app when it launches. In exchange, Spectrum will pay more in subscriber fees to the media giant.⁵
• During their dispute, Spectrum said that higher distribution fees had led to increased prices, causing customers to abandon cable. However, Disney argued that carriage fees are necessary to cover the rising programming costs of professional sports.⁴

Sources: ¹CBS, ²Orange county register, ³Associated Press, ⁴FOX News and ⁵CNBC.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Orlando sentinel. Disney extorted Spectrum and its subscribers as it “negotiated” to bring popular channels back to millions of subscribers. It's clear that Spectrum wasn't trying to nickel and dime Disney — the cable company just wanted to pay a fair carriage fee in order to keep customer costs down and stop the financial bleeding via cord cutting. However, Disney’s massive corporate greed deprived millions of Americans, including home-state Floridians, of their favorite sports and channels. Disney needs to start caring about its loyal customers again.
• Narrative B, as provided by Deadline. While Spectrum fought Disney over the right to broadcast key channels, the cable company still billed customers for channels that were restricted during the carriage fee standoff. While some may blame Disney for the dispute, Charter, unlike all other major television companies, refused to extend programming while it negotiated a long-term deal. Charter should’ve put customers ahead of its petty dispute with Disney.