Spectrum users have been blocked out from watching Disney channels since August 31, and the blackout has finally come to close. Luckily, for Spectrum users, this deal has struck just in time for Monday Night Football, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Football fans will rest easy this season.
Charter Communications is a mega-corporation that operates the Spectrum cable service. For an amount of time, Disney-owned channels were blocked out from being broadcasted via Spectrum. However, a new deal has finally been struck between Spectrum and Walt Disney, meaning that viewers can once again enjoy the networks ABC, ESPN, FX and Disney Channel.
Disney Channel CEO Bob Iger made a joint statement with Charter CEO Chris Winfrey stating that their “collective goal has always been to build an innovative model for the future. This deal recognizes both the continued value of linear television and the growing popularity of streaming services while addressing the evolving needs of our consumers. We also want to thank our mutual customers for their patience this past week and are pleased that Spectrum viewers once again have access to Disney’s high quality sports, news and entertainment programming in time for Monday Night Football.”
Nearly 15 million users of Spectrum were blocked out from watching Disney for the past twelve days. Not only is that unfortunate for viewers in itself, it happened in the middle of the U.S. Open tennis match and also a college football game. Within a conference call with Wall Street analysts, Charter was ready to move forward on abandoning its current television business and seek alternate options for video offerings.
Winfrey stated that, “We’re on the edge of a precipice. We’re either moving forward with a new collaborative video model, or we’re moving on.” Within a “wholesale agreement” between Charter and Disney, Charter will give its Spectrum TV Select customers access to Disney+ with ads alongside ESPN+. Charter is also said to being marketing Disney’s streaming services to a wide variety of Spectrum customers. Spectrum is said to “maintain flexibility to offer a range of video packages at varying price points based upon different customer viewing preferences,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
That’s not all that’s changing, under the new deal various Disney networks will no longer be carried by Spectrum. This includes Freeform, Disney XD, Disney Junior, Nat Geo Wild and FXX.
Disney and Charter have also come forward stating, “[they have] renewed their commitment to the lead industry in mitigating the effects of unauthorized password sharing,” this strongly suggests that Disney will be following the steps of Netflix, breaking the hearts of broke college students everywhere.