Charter/Disney Dispute

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Will be interesting to see how Charter's line in the sand with Disney plays out. Charter has about 14 million pay TV subs, the second-most among all US MVPDs, so what happens here could be very disruptive to the overall industry.

Between this and the ongoing writers and actors strikes, it feels like Hollywood is in a meltdown. Big structural changes in the way entertainment is packaged and distributed might be on the way.
 
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We literally.. left DIrecTV 2 weeks ago (who are still on the outs with Nexstar mind you).. for Spectrum. I wish I was kidding.
 
NashGuy said:
Will be interesting to see how Charter's line in the sand with Disney plays out. Charter has about 14 million pay TV subs, the second-most among all US MVPDs, so what happens here could be very disruptive to the overall industry.

Between this and the ongoing writers and actors strikes, it feels like Hollywood is in a meltdown. Big structural changes in the way entertainment is packaged and distributed might be on the way.
Click to expand...
I have been saying this and next year will be transitional, we should know which way the business will go after 2024, but if Charter is truthful about what they would do, things might be happening even faster.

Most analysts have said, both Charter and Comcast would be more profitable if they got rid of pay TV,
 
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The Spectrum CEO's argument is really spot on if you look at the big picture. We're at the stage where all of these companies have to determine whether the cost of programming renewals versus the number of customers they're going to lose (and how many of those customers were going to go anyway due to the ongoing cord cutting losses) make it worthwhile to pay the "ransom" so to speak.

In this case if the numbers Spectrum gave are accurate and only 25% of their customer base watches the majority of these channels then it might be more economical to let that 25% walk, and focus on keeping the rest happy where they are or offering them discounts to stay.

I can remember back when congress first passed the law that allowed local stations to collect retransmission fees from cable/satellite providers. Our "local" ABC affiliate WLOS decided they were going to play hardball with the local cable company. Back then WSOC from Charlotte, which was closer (and preferred by most in our county anyway) was also carried on the cable system so nobody even missed them. Pretty soon they gave in and decided some money was better than none. They figured out nobody in upstate SC cared if they could see Asheville's news or not.

Ultimately the first one to crunch the numbers and figure out they're the bigger loser will give in.
 
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NashGuy said:
May I interest you in YouTube TV?
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` We thought about it but YTTV doesn't have your local sports nets (Ex: Bally)

We were between Spectrum and Fubo and e nded up with Spectrum since they carry high school football in Ohio. (Spectrum News 1)
 
Tony1097 said:
` We thought about it but YTTV doesn't have your local sports nets (Ex: Bally)
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That might not be a issue much longer.

Even if Diamond makes it out of Bankruptcy, Charter’s contract with them is up in February, who is already on the record ( along with DirecTV and Comcast, whose contract is up this fall with Diamond), that they want a substantially less per sub fee.
 
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There has to be "that" breaking part somewhere. Pricing has reached the point where people do not or can not pay for the services. I know people now that watch free OTA and free streaming services. Interesting, there are so many free streaming services that run ads, I figure the ad supported channels on cable/satellite should be free too.
 
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more news-

According to a report from the Sports Business Journal, Spectrum and Disney’s last renewal in 2019 came close to ending Spectrum’s TV business. According to the report, Spectrum came close to walking away from cable TV, shutting it all down and focusing on its internet business back in 2019.

This comes as a growing number of cable TV businesses are deciding that TV is not just worth it. WOW! most noticeably recently decided to partner with YouTube TV to replace its cable TV. This comes as a growing number of cable TV executives have been saying TV is just not profitable both in private and increasingly in public.

2023 has not been kind to cable TV companies like Comcast, DIRECTV, and Spectrum. In just the first half of 2023, cable TV companies have lost over 2,748,000 TV subscribers. Not only that but the hope that most cord cutters would switch to live TV streaming services doesn’t seem to be paying out as live TV services like Hulu + Live TV and Fubo also lost 509,000 subscribers during the same time period.

This is from SBJ article in the link above-

The rate that Charter pays for TV networks -- especially sports -- has become so expensive that the cable operator’s margins are razor thin. Broadband and wireless are a much better business, with much higher margins, for cable operators.

As I posted months ago, Comcast and Charter have had serious discussions about dropping Cable TV, knowing they would be much more profitable , stock prices would go up, etc, etc.

Charter has not lost as many subs ( 17.31 million in 2016, now at 14.07 million ) both in numbers and percentages, DirecTV ( over 13 million gone), Comcast (7 million gone).

So I find it surprising they are leading the discussions on dropping Live TV, unless profits are really that bad.

cordcuttersnews.com

Spectrum Almost Shut Down Its Cable TV Service Back in 2019 To Focus On Internet | Cord Cutters News

Spectrum, over the weekend, talked big about being willing to walk away from cable TV and just offer bundles of streaming services. Now, according to a new report, this is no empty threat and Spectrum. According to a report from the Sports Business Journal, Spectrum and Disney’s last renewal in...
cordcuttersnews.com cordcuttersnews.com
 
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I see this abandoning the Pay TV Business with my Mother-in-Law’s Frontier. It started as Verizon FIOS until Verizon sold their Midwest operations to Frontier. The Pay TV price shot up because the big fish became a fingerling and couldn’t get the price breaks from the providers when negotiating coverage contracts. But their website is worthless for existing customers who want to explore their TV options; she’s being told that Frontier’s offering is YouTube TV, nothing from Frontier.

Like the others, Frontier just wants to provide Internet and let the consumers fend for themselves for Internet TV and telephone services.
 
Juan said:
www.syracuse.com

Hochul demands Spectrum issue refunds for Disney channels customers aren’t getting

Dispute between the cable company and Disney is keeping Spectrum customers from watching ESPN, other channels.
www.syracuse.com www.syracuse.com
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She is correct, all of Disney’s channels, ABC, Disney Channel (3 of them), FX (3 of them) , Nat Geographic, Freeform and of course the ESPNs, you are looking at over $20 in per sub fees Charter is no longer paying Disney, but still collecting from subscribers.
 
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