After a ten-day impasse, Disney and cable TV giant Charter Communications have reached a carriage renewal agreement.
The new deal means Charter’s Spectrum service, the No. 2 cable operator in the U.S. with 14.7 million customers, will preserve nineteen cable networks and stations it was previously carrying.
Those coming back include ESPN, FX and ABC stations in major markets. However, it has dropped eight others – FXX, Disney XD, Freeform, Baby TV, Disney Junior, FXM, Nat Geo Wild and Nat Geo Mundo.
The ruckus began on August 31st when Disney cable networks and broadcast stations were made unavailable on Spectrum systems – effectively blacked out for nearly 15 million people.
The renewal today comes just hours before the regular-season kickoff of Monday Night Football, and has already impacted major sporting events like the U.S. Open tennis, along with ABC series such as “The View”.
The deal will also see the ad-supported tier of Disney+ available to Spectrum TV Select subscribers as part of a wholesale arrangement. ESPN+ will be provided to Spectrum TV Select Plus subscribers, replaced by the flagship ESPN standalone service when it launches.
The distributor will also offer and market Disney’s direct-to-consumer services to all customers at retail rates. The dispute came as the pay-TV sector continues to shrink with Charter having lost around 25% of its video customers in the past five years.
Source: Deadline
