The only good thing about the vertical ownership oligopoly in this country is that this kind of stuff doesn’t happen every three months. It’s ridiculous how often viewers are held hostage by multi billion dollar corporations down there.

Disney, despite all its cuddly cartoon characters, has a reputation for pulling stunts like this and being very, very greedy. I remember back in my C-Band dish days, they were either threatening to or actually raising the price of ESPN and the Disney Channel, forcing bills to go ever higher.  

The problem was that EPSN was a basic must carry, so even if you didn't care about sports (and I didn't) you were forced to pay the ever-escalating cost for a station you never watched. It was infuriating and I see nothing has changed. It's far worse now that they also own ABC and several other properties. 

But they're not the only ones. Nexstar, the largest owner of TV stations in the U.S., pulled ALL their stations from DirecTV in the U.S., leaving millions without access to NBC, CBS, ABC and the CW, depending on the city where the channels are. This was just in time for football season to kick off, which is exactly why they're doing it. 

Nexstar says it wants fair compensation for its numerous channels. DirecTV insists it will force a big price hike if they give in and has been fiercely resisting. And so the outage has gone on for several months, with no resolution in sight, each accusing the other of bargaining in bad faith and subscribers fuming. 

What few are left. Many have outright cancelled their subscriptions to the satellite service and are leaving for either cable or OTA or both (or just streaming), being fed up with constantly getting caught in the middle. They have lost thousands of subscribers this year alone and it's expected most will never come back. Which means both sides lose, but being the greedmongers that they are and having that built into their business model, neither side is willing to budge. 

And on and on and on it goes. 

There are a lot of things I hate about the Canadian system, but this is not one of them. I remember watching C-Span when this law was up for debate all those years ago and the NAB was lobbying to be able to charge cable and satellite for use of their signals. Experts warned what it would mean. And sadly for those down south, they weren't wrong. 

I think Disney gets something in the range of $7-$9/month per cable subscriber. The majority of the other cable channels get $1 or less.

This article confirms that ESPN costs cable/sat subscribers $9 U.S. a month - whether they watch the network or not. But it also asks the question: can the station survive as cord cutting and streaming becomes the new normal? One thing seems clear - the game for this kind of deal for consumers who want their sports may soon be over. And it may be a lesson for Sportsnet and TSN, as well.

Can ESPN survive while cable TV dies?
 

Just in time for Monday Night Football on ESPN, Spectrum Cable and Disney have a deal....More from CNN.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/11/media/disney-charter-end-cable-blackout/index.html

RadioActive wrote:

My advice? If you can, get an antenna.

Meh, IPTV is a great way to go...legal or not.