Maybe for a change of pace from #StrikeTok, some interesting business news on the Charter/Disney deal struck at the 11th hour before MNF last night (From NYT):
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Breaking down the Disney-Charter deal
Hours before “Monday Night Football” was set to air, Disney settled its fight with Charter Communications that would have kept nearly 15 million cable subscribers from seeing the day’s big N.F.L. game (and the injury-shortened debut of Aaron Rodgers as the New York Jets quarterback) live at home.
Analysts and media watchers had wondered how much the fight, in which channels including ESPN were unavailable on the nation’s second-biggest cable provider for more than a week, would weaken Disney. The early verdict: Disney gave up less than expected — but made concessions that could eventually remake the pay-TV business.
Disney will gain more reach for its streaming services, which the company views as a vital part of its future. Charter agreed to offer the ad-supported version of its Disney+ streaming platform to some of its subscribers, paying a wholesale rate for the service instead of getting it for free as the cable provider had demanded. That could help boost subscriber numbers for Disney+, which has lost millions of customers in recent months.
Charter also agreed to provide ESPN+ (largely a companion to its cable-channel sibling) as part of its sports-focused bundle. More important, when Disney finally introduces a direct-to-consumer version of ESPN that includes streaming of big sports events, the broadband provider can also offer that to its consumers.
Charter claimed some victories, too. It will pay more for Disney’s top-tier channels like ESPN, but it will cut its costs by dropping a bunch of others, including Disney Junior and the women-focused Freeform. The analyst Michael Nathanson of MoffettNathanson estimated that the move would cost Disney some $300 million a year in lost fees.
Disney executives conceded that they lost ground, but achieved something else: “We protected our primary entertainment channels,” Dana Walden, the co-chair of the company’s entertainment division, told The Hollywood Reporter.
The battle may shape other fights over content. Charter had threatened to drop Disney channels altogether if it didn’t get access to Disney’s streaming services, a scorched-earth move that would have deprived the entertainment company of billions in carriage fees. Charter is now getting them — not for free, but still at a reduced rate.
Analysts credited Disney with dodging a worst-case scenario. But while Disney executives argued that the settlement wouldn’t set a precedent for future negotiations with cable companies, media watchers say that’s still what happened.
Expect more battles soon. Charter is set to hold talks with more content providers over the next 18 months.