Disney, Charter Spectrum settle cable TV dispute

FILE – The Walt Disney Co. logo appears on a screen above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Aug. 7, 2017, in New York. The company representing nearly 15 million cable subscribers and the Walt Disney Co. blamed each other Friday, Sept. 1, 2023 in a business dispute that cut off Disney-owned stations to customers on the eve of a big sports weekend for U.S. Open tennis and college football fans. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

Disney and Charter Communications have announced a deal to settle a dispute that had cut some 15 million cable TV customers off from ESPN and other Disney-owned channels, including in our area.

The two businesses faced a pressing deadline — the year’s first ‘Monday Night Football’ game airing tonight, that would have left a lot of angry football fans if they weren’t able to watch the game.

It matches the New York Jets against the Buffalo Bills, and many of the affected customers with the Charter-owned Spectrum TV are in the New York area.

In our area, many Alabama and Auburn football fans were upset over not getting to watch their teams play on ESPN if they were Charter Spectrum customers.

Disney channels went dark for Spectrum customers on September 1 after the media giant and Charter, Spectrum’s parent company, failed to come to terms over carrier fees, which are payments that cable and satellite-TV operators pay to media companies to carry their networks. Charter had accused Disney of demanding “an excessive increase” to its carrier fee, according to CBS News.

Disney had used the dispute to urge customers to switch to its streaming service Hulu + Live TV, CBS News reported.

The companies were seeking to nail an agreement for Spectrum to carry Disney’s various cable TV properties, made difficult by cord-cutting that has cut into cable’s audience.

(Copyright 2023 The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)