John Malone wields hammer over media coffin

Liberty Broadband

06/09/2023 17:24

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions
expressed are her own.)
    By Jennifer Saba
       NEW YORK, Sept 6 (Reuters Breakingviews) - A dispute has
cut Charter’s cable viewers off from Disney content. Charter
backer Malone is betting traditional TV is fading, risking $17
bln of rich fees for Disney. Forcing a showdown makes sense.
It’s hard to see why distributors should subsidize the pivot to
streaming.    
    Full view will be published shortly.
    Follow @jennifersaba on X
         
    CONTEXT NEWS 
Charter Communications released an investor presentation on
Sept. 1 detailing its dispute with Walt Disney over the rights
to carry channels such as sports network ESPN. About 15 million
Charter Spectrum customers cannot watch Disney content as of
Aug. 31.
    In the presentation, Charter detailed its proposal to forge
a new business model to stabilize declines in pay-TV
subscribers. The $63 billion cable company backed by John
Malone’s Liberty Broadband wants Disney to allow its customers
free access to its ad-supported streaming services, Disney+ and
Hulu+
    Disney said in a statement that Charter has refused to enter
into a new agreement that reflects “market-based” terms.

    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Graphic: ESPN has been losing subscribers for over a decade    https://tmsnrt.rs/3Z5j2bo
Graphic: Charter's broadband business has overtaken stagnant
television    https://tmsnrt.rs/464utTb
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 (Editing by Jonathan Guilford, Sharon Lam and Aditya Sriwatsav)
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