The feud between Disney Entertainment/ESPN with Charter that left many University of Kentucky fans without a way to watch the Kentucky-Ball State game Saturday along with a lot of other college football games and more since Friday night. Who is right? Both sides blame the other but the bottom line is that fans are the losers and I know based on my Spectrum/Charter monthly bill that rates are already excessively high.
Here’s What You Need To Know About the Dispute Between Spectrum and Disney Entertainment / ESPN from ESPN
Labor Day weekend is traditionally one of the biggest sports weekends of the year. Viewers sit down to watch the anticipated return of college football and enjoy the tennis battles at the US Open. Unfortunately, for millions of Spectrum cable viewers this has not been the case this holiday weekend, since ESPN and other Disney-owned channels like ABC are blacked out due to a dispute between Spectrum’s parent company–Charter Communications–and Disney Entertainment.
Disputes between cable companies and content providers aren’t new. However, millions of consumers may find themselves perplexed and frustrated by what’s going on.
To cut through the noise, here are some important points to consider as the dispute disrupts one of the biggest TV weekends of the year:
To cut through the noise, here are some important points to consider as the dispute disrupts one of the biggest TV weekends of the year:
• Losing ESPN is a major issue for consumers since it’s one of the most popular channels. In fact, ESPN aired more than half (53) of the top 100 telecasts in Charter homes during the past year, per Nielsen, the leading audience measurement, data and analytics company. That includes all 5 of the top 5.
• In the average month, 71% of Charter subscribers tune into Disney’s networks or stations. In fact, Charter subscribers watched more than 3.3 billion hours of content on Disney networks and stations over the past year, according to Nielsen.
• Although Charter claims that they value their customers, they declined Disney’s offer to extend negotiations which would have kept Disney-owned networks up for consumers in the middle of perennial programming events like the US Open and college football.
• Even though Charter also claims to value Disney’s direct-to-consumer services, the cable company is demanding these different services for free–as they have stated publicly–which does not make economic sense. Moreover, it does not make sense for consumers who desire the flexibility to have our streaming platforms as standalone services.
Disney deeply values its relationship with its viewers and is hopeful Charter is ready to have more conversations that will restore access to its content to Spectrum customers as quickly as possible.
Consumers should also know that they have many options today and can choose from competing pay TV providers that offer Disney’s entire portfolio of networks and programming, as well as TV streaming services that can be accessed by downloading an app or over a broadband connection.
Here is What Charter/Spectrum Wants You to Know about the Dispute with Disney/ESPN
It’s our pleasure to assist you. Here’s some follow-up information we think you’ll find useful after our recent discussion.
The Walt Disney Company has removed their programming from Spectrum which creates hardship for you, our valued customer. We offered Disney a fair deal, yet they are demanding an excessive increase.
They also want to limit our ability to provide greater customer choice in programming packages forcing you to take and pay for channels you may not want.
Spectrum is on your side and fighting to keep costs down while protecting and maximizing customer choice. We ask for your patience as we continue to work out a deal that is fair for everyone. We appreciate your loyalty and look forward to continuing to serve you.
I don’t know how this will work out but I do know I tried to call Spectrum Saturday to see about possibly dropping my service and was on hold for three hours — the length of the UK football game — after I was told I would get a $15 rebate for the lack of ESPN service.
I was also told previously by a Spectrum operator that my bill would soon be going up.
So a change is coming for me and is already in process so Spectrum and Disney can just negotiate to see who can make the most and I can watch college football games next weekend.
22 Responses
oh so you mean disney wants us to pay for channels me may not want..so does that mean i can get rid of all the channels i dont want that spectrum is making me pay for in their packages?im shopping for a new provider spectrum can kiss my poor ass
Preach it Edward
Even though they have the capability to allow consumers to pick individual channels, they won’t do it. To many other channels would never make it on their own because of low viewership. They know this, so they package them together. The ones most people watch are the bell cow of the package and allow a very small group of people to get the channels they want at the same cost that you pay. Basically, it is like most things in this country. . . the majority is paying so the others can ride on our shirt tails.
Cuestreaming.com has the most channels for the lowest price, but they don’t have recording set up yet.
I am using Fubo and really like it. Comes with 1,000 hours of recording space.
thank you Old Fan. think I am going YouTubeTV
The problem with Fubo is absence of Turner channels. That means during March Madness there will be no access to TBS, TNT, or TruTV. Also, right now the companies that own local channels are petitioning the FCC to treat streaming services like Fubo the same as cable/SAT. Meaning, you’ll then start seeing the $20+ in rebroadcast fees added to your bill. There just isn’t a great solution. The cost of sports has gone crazy and we’re all paying for it if we want to watch.
It is always about the money, and Disney is sucking bad air with profits. They did this to Dish last year at about the same time, impacting football access.
This is clearly their strongest negotiating posture.
Could be Professor but Spectrum has already done a good job sucking my bank account and I was told 2 months ago it would soon be going up more
It is plain & simple "corporate GREED"!!
I watched the UK game by using my fire-stick
and streaming You Tube !!!
you the man Ron. Going to YouTube as soon as my son can set it up
I want spectrum and Disney to make a deal to make everybody happy enough for us to be suffering because they can’t make Agreement make an agreement
I got spectrum as well, I was lucky to watch the cats on YouTube. Fubo will get my business the hell with Spectrum
Just because certain tactics have worked in the past, they don’t guarantee they will be successful in the present or the future.
Disney’s suspension of services for Spectrum may well be just such an example. This tactic in the past occurred when their stock was on the rise, most of their animated entertainment releases were generating significant revenues, and their related merchandize was in broad demand. ESPN was answering the call for more sporting events. In turn, streaming services had not become a competitor that was creating worrisome future market changes. Outstanding contracts, especially to college conferences and various professional sports had not yet overextended the financial side of the company. The Disney brand was sailing on smooth seas.
That has all changed now. The Disney brand is in decline. They are attempting to sell assets to secure more financial stability. Yet their brand is their greatest asset. I firmly believe they will learn that this suspension will only hurt the value of their brand even more. Their Balance Sheet line item “Goodwill’s decline this next year will only validate this. It has declined by $11 Billion over the past 4 years. Such a shame for an iconic American company.
Good comments. Definitely a game of chicken where both sides will ultimately lose as viewers get disgusted. The cost of sports is out of control and will soon reach a tipping point.
Amen Stephen
I just got off the phone with cue streaming. They have an unbelievable channel selection for 59.99 a month including the SEC channel and all the premium channels included in the price. They will be offering recording abilities within the next month and the customer service rep that I spoke with lives in Jackson Ky. Larry you should have your son totally check them out!! GO BIG BLUE!!!!
Old Fan — thank you for the cue streaming tip!!! Their channel selection is off the wall and will save me over a 100.00 a month over what dish would offer for way less channels. My unlimited hard wired internet should be available within the next 30 days out here in Lebanon Tn farm country so basketball season should be in the bag. I had literally spent the day researching streaming services and NONE of them can hold a candle to the value of cue streaming – not even close. Thanks again for the tip!
You are welcome. From what they told me, they don’t even charge extra for pay per view events and they have every sports channel you could want.
This angers me to no end! I’m most angered with Spectrum!!!
I get you Paul
I agree this dispute then just happened they waited until open season but every one needs to contact the sec and tell them they need to negotiate with either fox or TNT cause it seems the sec was the only one who had trouble you had other schools playing acc pac 12 others schools were playing I agree this is just about money spectrum knew this they don’t care but when it’s time to pay the bill they blowing up your phone
Two words for spectrum and disney…….
Bud light…..
Goodbye.
Totally sounds to me like it is all Disney’s fault with their bloated greed for the almighty dollar. Maybe Disney will lose so much money that they have to shut all their parks down.