Walt Disney Co (DIS)

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$DIS > Disney Comes To The Rescue, Ensuring US Open Broadcast Amid Cable Blackout
8:25 am ET September 6, 2023 (Benzinga) Print
In a surprising move, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) has intervened to resolve a cable blackout crisis during a dispute with Charter Communications, ensuring the uninterrupted broadcast of the U.S. Open tennis matches.

What Happened: Approximately 15 million U.S. pay-TV customers have been unable to access Disney networks, including ESPN, since Thursday due to a fee dispute with Charter, as per a report by Financial Times.

This standoff pits Charter, a traditional cable carrier striving to retain subscribers amidst cord-cutting trends, against Disney, which has been promoting direct-to-consumer streaming in recent years and relies on ESPN for U.S. sports programming.

Tennis players at the U.S. Open found themselves caught in the middle, unable to watch opponents’ matches in New York.

To address this, Disney provided secure logins to its app for some U.S. Open players and media members, including ESPN tennis analyst John McEnroe, who contracted COVID-19 and was reportedly “going nuts” that he couldn’t attend matches in person.