Disney berates Charter over ongoing dispute: ‘Do you care about your subscribers?’
The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) accused Stamford-based Charter Communications (NASDAQ:CHTR) of failing its Spectrum customers as the companies continue their dispute over a renewed distribution deal.
Over Labor Day weekend, Disney-owned channels including ABC and ESPN were removed from the Spectrum cable television line-up when the two sides could not resolve their carriage dispute. This afternoon, Disney used the ESPN page on X (formerly Twitter) to blame Charter for keeping sports programming broadcast by Disney channels from its 14.7 million cable viewers.
“As the US Open reaches the men’s and women’s finals and fans gear up for a weekend of college football and the opening of the NFL season, it’s unfortunate that Charter decided to abandon their consumers by denying them access to our great programming,” Disney said. “While they have stated their ‘indifference’ to the needs of millions of paying customers, we will not lose sight of what is most important ”” investing in the high-quality stories, news and sports for our audience.”
Disney added, “The question for charter is clear: do you care about your subscribers and what they’re telling you they want ”” or not? Disney stands ready to resolve this dispute and do what’s in the best interest of Charter’s customers.”
Charter did not immediately respond to Disney”™s claim. When the Disney channels were taken off Spectrum, Charter issued a statement that it “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. The rising cost of programming is the single greatest factor in higher cable TV prices, and we are fighting hard to hold the line on programming rates imposed on us by companies like Disney.”