Tens of thousands of University of Florida Gators fans spent last Thursday frustrated they couldn't see the team's opening game due to a carriage fee fight between Disney and Spectrum.
The fight shows no signs of letting up, not only impacting Gators fans but also those who cheer for Florida State University and the University of Miami.
Spectrum, the second-largest cable provider in the U.S., saw Disney pull ESPN, Disney, and other networks off of its platform last Thursday, just before the Gators game against the Utah Utes.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Disney owns the ABC network. However, ABC Action News is an affiliate owned by the E.W. Scripps Company and not a party to this dispute
What is causing the dispute?
Cable companies pay content creators, in this case, Disney and the networks it owns, to carry their programming on their cable system. At different times, the contracts come up for renewal, and almost always, the companies that own the networks will raise the prices for that content.
The rising fees often come from more expensive production costs for the content creators. In most cases, both sides negotiate an agreement, but this time, the two sides couldn't reach an agreement before the
While much of the dispute often revolves around price, the Hollywood Reporter said this particular fight involves Disney's streaming services and how they may/may not be bundled by Spectrum.
"They (Disney) say that Charter wants to have Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ in the bundle without any extra payment," according to the Hollywood Reporter. "Disney is said to have offered a menu of options, which could include Charter selling the Disney services to its customers, or bundling it with other offerings."
Complicating all of this is the NFL regular season is just two days away, and ESPN has a large swath of programming dealing with the NFL. Luckily for fans, the first game won't be impacted, but Monday Night Football would not be viewable by Spectrum customers.
What networks are impacted?
Spectrum said the following networks were impacted: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, ESPNU, ESPN News, SEC Network, ACC Network, Longhorn Network, FX, FX Movie Channel, FXX, Freeform, National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Mundo, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD and BabyTV.
What options do customers have?
Customers can try to wait out the dispute and hope it's settled before any more Disney-owned content (including college football and the NFL) airs.
Spectrum customers can also choose a Virtual Multichannel Video Programming Distributor or vMVPD. While the name sounds complicated, it's actually services like YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, Sling, Fubo TV, and others.
Spectrum is offering customers a discounted rate for three months of service with Fubo TV, which is sports-focused. It's one of the first times a cable company directed people to possibly cancel their cable TV service. Disney is directing people to Hulu with Live TV (which it owns), YouTube TV, Sling, and others.
Can customers get a rebate?
Spectrum is offering customers who call customer service a $15 rebate, according to multiple media outlets.
What does this mean for cable television?
It's really unknown at this point. Cable television viewership has been in decline for at least the past decade as streaming platforms and vMVPDs have exploded in popularity.
At least two companies, WOW and Frontier Communications, have changed how they're offering television. WOW, according to the Hollywood Reporter, stopped offering TV subscriptions and sent customers to YouTube TV. Frontier is not accepting new TV customers and instead offering deals with YouTube TV for new customers seeking television service.
If a company like Spectrum decided to exit the cable television business, it could spark other companies to follow suit. That would upend the media ecosystem that has been built up over the last 30-40 years.
The effects would be spread across multiple parts of the media industry. That is a worst-case scenario, but anything is possible the longer the dispute drags on.
