ESPN and the other Disney networks will be returning to Charter’s Spectrum cable systems after the sides reached agreement on a new deal, it was announced Monday.
The key point of contention between the sides was the inclusion of Disney’s direct-to-subscriber platforms ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu, which Charter wanted to bundle with the linear networks free-of-charge. Under the agreement, which was officially announced Monday morning, Charter will bundle Disney+, ESPN+, and the eventual ESPN direct-to-subscriber service with its existing packages. ESPN+ will be on the Spectrum TV Plus tier, while the other two will be included with the basic Spectrum TV Select package.
Those services will not be provided to Charter for free, however. The Wall Street Journal said Monday that Charter has agreed to pay Disney higher rates for its channels in order to distribute the streaming services and CNBC separately reported that Charter would pay a discounted wholesale rate for the services.
(It stands to reason that even if Charter subscribers receive ESPN’s streaming services with their existing services, they will eventually pay some price in the form of higher monthly bills.)
The Disney channels have been off of Charter’s systems since August 31, the opening day of the college football season. Charter subscribers missed the first two weeks of ESPN college football coverage and nearly all of the US Open. Monday’s deal would come in time for the debut of ESPN’s Monday Night Football.
Charter had been open about its willingness to abandon cable TV distribution if it was unable to reach a deal with Disney, describing its TV business as a liability for its higher-priority broadband concern.
As part of the agreement, Charter will drop a number of Disney-owned channels — including FXX, the one-time Fox Soccer Channel that is known now for airing new episodes of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and the soon-to-conclude “Archer.” Freeform (which once aired MLB Postseason games as FOX Family and ABC Family), DisneyXD (which has simulcast the Pro Bowl in recent years) and Disney Junior are also being dropped.
(News from WSJ 9.11, CNBC 9.11, The Hollywood Reporter 9.11)
