The Walt Disney Co. and Charter Communications spent the first 10 days of September locked in a staring contest. On Monday, both blinked, as the most famous company in making TV struck an awkward, mutually beneficial deal with one of the biggest companies distributing it. Now 15 million households will be able to watch Monday Night Football in peace.
Disney’s linear TV channels, including ESPN, went off the air for Charter’s Spectrum cable customers at the start of the month. The two companies had different problems, each brought on by cord-cutting. A decadelong bleed of cable subscribers has hobbled Charter because, well, it is a cable company. But it has been an existential issue for Disney, too... Continue reading
