Disney, Charter reach agreement to end ESPN, ABC blackout

Cable giant Charter Communications Inc. and Walt Disney Co. reached an agreement ending a blackout of ESPN for millions of pay-TV customers, hours before the sports network’s first broadcast of the new NFL season’s Monday Night Football. The agreement will restore popular Disney channels including ABC and FX to Charter’s 14.7 million customers, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified. The channels had been off the air for Charter customers for more than a week as a result of a fee dispute between the companies. The Wall Street Journal reported on the agreement earlier Monday. Financial terms of the deal weren’t immediately known. Football marketing news Tracking Super Bowl, NFL and college brand moves Read more here Disney had been pressing for an increase in the amount Charter pays to carry its channels. Charter, the No. 2 US cable provider, wanted more freedom to offer packages without ESPN and wanted to include Disney streaming services like Hulu and ESPN+ for free. Shares of Disney rose as much as 2.9% to $83.85 in trading in New York. Charter added as much as 3.5% to $437.35. Disney pulled its channels, including ABC and Nat Geo, off the Charter systems late last month after the two sides failed to reach an new distribution agreement. Charter, which operates under the Spectrum brand, provides TV service in major cities like New York and Los Angeles. The dispute meant many Charter customers couldn’t watch the US Open tennis tournament or college football as the new season began. Channels went dark in the middle of a US Open match between Lloyd Harris and Carlos Alcaraz, the Spanish tennis star who went on to reach the semifinals. The finals weren’t available to Charter customers. The fight amounted to a showdown over the future of pay-TV between the world’s largest entertainment company and the largest US cable TV provider behind Comcast Corp. Pay-TV distributors have been losing subscribers to a new generation of streaming services, many of them operated by the same companies that operate cable channels. Charter CEO Chris Winfrey argued that the media companies have been encouraging customers to switch by putting some of their best programming on their streaming services and the industry should instead work together to offer a combined cable-streaming offering. —Bloomberg News Subscribe to Ad Age Sign up now for the latest industry news and analysis Click here

Disney, Charter reach agreement to end ESPN, ABC blackout

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