Comcast CEO Calls Disney-Charter Battle A ‘Transformational Moment’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts says the battle between Disney and Charter “won’t be the last dispute” between distributors.
“When you have many distributors of the same product in the same geography, you’re going to have disputes,” Roberts explained. “It’s not the first dispute and probably won’t be the last dispute.”
Charter Communications, which owns Spectrum, removed Disney-owned channels like ESPN and ABC from their programming lineup due to disputes over pricing.
“We respect the quality of product that Disney produces, and its management team, but the video ecosystem is broken,” Charter CEO and President Christopher Winfrey explained. “I’m disappointed that Disney so far has insisted on higher prices, forcing customers to take on their products when they don’t want them or can’t afford them and asking to require customers to pay for direct-to-consumer apps that linear fees already pay for.”
Disney responded with their own take on the situation, saying, “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.”
Their statement continued, “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.”
Roberts also shared his thoughts on what the dispute means for Comcast and other media companies.
“Each company is dealing with their version of this transformational moment,” he explained. “Ultimately, I hope people are looking at, ‘What is the consumer saying?’ The consumer is look for simplicity, somebody to help aggregate and deliver bang for the buck.”
Movieguide® previously reported on the Disney-Charter dispute:
Charter Communications hopes to rewrite how cable companies provide service through a deal with Disney that allows its subscribers to only pay for Disney’s channels and include Disney+ in their service bundle.
On Thursday, Disney pulled service to ESPN, ABC and the other large channels they own from Charter’s services, affecting nearly 15 million people, Deadline reported. This dispute came as Disney told Charter they would need to raise their prices in order to increase the company’s cash flow.
Rather than submit to Disney’s demands, Charter hopes to change the cable business by offering different prices based on how frequently certain channels are viewed. Under the previous agreement, Charter paid $2.2 billion annually for programming costs, but only 25% of its user base regularly engaged with Disney’s content.
Instead of raising the cost for all of its subscribers, Charter hopes to ink a deal with Disney that would only raise the price for customers who use Disney’s channels, keeping the cost for other subscribers low.
While Charter knows it will take a lot to get these deals through, the company believes it is necessary for the future of cable television and could be a model for the future of a dying business.
However, blazing a trail comes with risks as the company could lose a large subscriber base who want access to these channels immediately rather than waiting for Charter to cut a deal with Disney. If the deal takes too long, the company may not have a reason to work with Disney because the viewers who use those channels will have left.
