“The Walt Disney Company, the owner of this channel, has removed their programming from Spectrum,” is how a series of messages to the subscribers of the cable provider starts.
Spectrum, which is owned by the Stamford, Connecticut-based Charter Communications, carries Disney’s ABC-TV, ESPN, FX, Freeform, and National Geographic.
The dispute is over re-trans and carriers’ fees. Spectrum is the major operator in several large cities, including New York and Los Angeles, and has 32 million subscribers in 41 states. It is the second-largest cable operator in the U.S. after Comcast.
“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,” is how the message from Spectrum continues on the TV screens.
Both re-trans and cable carriers’ fees are necessary for the channel operators’ bottom lines, which are affected by reduced advertising and fees revenues.
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