Customers of Altice USA”™s Optimum service in Westchester and Fairfield Counties may lose ABC, ESPN and other Disney-owned channels as early as Oct. 1, if a percolating dispute between the cable television provider and the entertainment industry giant is not resolved.
According to a USA Today report, contract renewal negotiations between the companies has hit a snag over rate charges. A main stumbling block has been ESPN, which has seen double-digit declines in viewership among Optimum subscribers. But it remains the most expensive cable channel, costing Altice more than $7 per monthly subscriber. Disney has also been trying to get Altice to carry two more of its sports channels, the ACC Network and the SEC Network, but the cable provider has balked at the proposal.
The companies have berated each other via press statements, with Altice insisting Disney is demanding “exorbitant” fee hikes for continued ESPN coverage while trying to “double the rates for ABC.” Disney, in turn, accused Altice of overcharging its viewers, claiming that the “typical Optimum customer pays $160 or more each month for service to Altice, and the bulk of that money goes into their pocket.”
It is not fair to remove the disney owned channels off the air because lattice optimum and disney will not agree to the customers who pay a lot of money to watch their favorite programming please come to an agreement you did this once before in 2010 I did not like it then why should we the customers be punished do you want the customers to take our business else were think before you cause a lot of problems not to see all new and old programs like General hospital or dancing with the stars baseball news etc. So Please think before you doit No Blackout of Abu disney You Will Have Alot Of angry soap fans ANGRY I WIll. Be ONe of them.!!!!