Disney (DIS) -) and Charter ended their dispute on Monday, and some additional deals have been revealed by one of the execs that made it happen.
Justin Connolly, Disney's President of Platform Distribution, hopped on "The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast" on Sept. 13 to talk about the inner workings that led to its deal with Charter and its cable provider, Spectrum.
The two sides announced on Monday, Sept. 10 that they had agreed to a deal to end the blackout affected 14.7 million Spectrum subscribers. The two sides couldn't come to terms in time to air the US Open and the opening of NCAA college football, but they made it right before ESPN's first NFL "Monday Night Football" telecast.
Related: Disney, Charter blackout to end after agreeing to new deal
Connolly said the two sides had been talking for several months, but had their first remnants of an agreement just before the weekend and ironed out the details during several Zoom calls over the following days.
"We've been in conversation and discussion with Charter throughout the summer and in lead up to an end of August expiration," Connolly said. "We finally got to a place within, let's call it, the 'Thursday-Friday zone' where we had a structure we could work with across the board and that structure worked on both sides."
As for the actual agreement, Connolly said that the deal signifies the changing way in which consumers engage with content.
"There is a acknowledgment related to the way in which consumer engages with media broadly defined, and that engagement happens across multiple platforms," Connelly said.
The deal details showcased that cable customers would still have the option to have their broad array of channels, but the option for Spectrum's broadband customers to have discounted deals with Disney streaming services like Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ would also be on the table.
Part of the deal is also to drive consumers to ESPN's looming direct-to-consumer package that's expected by 2025 or 2026. Connolly acknowledged that this was a key component.
"There is a future, and we've been talking about it for a long time, where the ESPN content proposition might be available on a direct-to-consumer basis ... and we've established a framework on how we can do that together. And within that framework is an acknowledgment that a whole host of subscribers and customers might want that option."
However, Connolly does not believe the direct-to-consumer option will completely kill cable.
"I do believe there will continue to be a demand and a value proposition for consumers around bundle package media product with sports as a foundational element," Connolly said.
More Disney/Charter deal:
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- Tennis star says he can't watch his competitors due to Spectrum-Disney dispute
- Disney counters Charter with promotion you have to take advantage of
Podcast hosts and sports business reporters John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal and Andrew Marchand of The New York Post also gave their reactions to the deal after the interview with Connolly.
Marchand said he thinks that both sides won the deal.
"I do think that the best way for ESPN to go forward is to have to be part of a bundle," Marchand said. "I don't think going alone really works when you're leasing sports. I think the biggest thing you want to do in subscription is have someone pay for it and then forget about it and get lost in the bundle."
Ourand, who declared previously that he didn't believe the deal was going to be done before Sept. 10, said he thinks Charter is the winner.
"I'm gonna give the nod to Charter as the winner of this and the simple reason is the leverage has changed completely," Ourand said. " ESPN has held all the leverage in these negotiations for years. If you missed a week in the college football in the past, distributors couldn't have done without that that. This year, Charter figured out a way around that turn out the leverage and the leverage now — Disney needs to be a part of this bundle."
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