Today, during the 2023 Q3 earnings call, Spectrum made it clear that its deal with Disney was not a one-off deal. During the call, Spectrums’ parent company Charter’s CEO Christopher L. Winfrey, said that if other networks don’t agree to similar deals, they won’t offer their channels.
Spectrum seems to see its Deal with Disney that saw channels being dropped channels and Disney agreed to include Disney+ and ESPN+ with its TV bundle. The channels dropped include Freeform, FXM, FXX, Disney Junior, Disney XD, Baby TV, Nat Geo Wild, and Net Geo Mundo as part of the cable company’s programming deal with Disney.
Now Spectrum seems to want to do the same with NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Discover, and more. If they don’t agree, Spectrum says they just won’t offer those channels. The question now is what channels Spectrum wants to be dropped and will the owners of these channels be willing to do that.
Spectrum is hoping to offer smaller, cheaper bundles of channels. These cheaper bundles will help it address the growing numbers of cheaper streaming TV services on the market, including services that offer no sports and limited or no sports.
Spectrum is the 2nd largest cable TV company in the United States. The loss of Spectrum can be very damaging to any media company, no matter how large they are.
It is unknown when Spectrums’ contract with these companies will come up for renewal. Though Spectrum is not waiting and is making its demands clear.