Press release
CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS PROVIDES UPDATE ON NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY
At the September 1, 2023 Investor Webcast, Charter's CEO, CFO and President of Product and Technology Presented the Company's Vision for Evolving the Video
About this update from Charter Communications, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"At the September 1, 2023 Investor Webcast, Charter's CEO, CFO and President of Product and Technology Presented the Company's Vision for Evolving the Video Business, and Desire for The Walt Disney Company to Join the Company in Leading the Industry Towards a Customer-Centric Business Model\nKey highlights are below, and a full replay of the investor meeting can be found at ir.charter.com.\nSTAMFORD, Conn., Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Charter Communications, Inc. (along with its subsidiaries, the \"Company\" or \"Charter\") today provided an update on its contract negotiation dispute with The Walt Disney Company. Following are key highlights from the meeting.\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \nOverviewWe respect the quality video products that The Walt Disney Company produces as well as the experience of its management team. But the current video ecosystem is broken, and we know there is a better path that will deliver video products with the choice consumers want.\nThe Walt Disney Company and Charter are uniquely capable to lead the way, which is why we are disappointed that thus far they have insisted on unsustainable price hikes and forcing customers to take their products, even when they don't want or can't afford them.\nThey also want to require customers to pay twice to get content apps with the linear video they have already paid for. This is not a typical carriage dispute. It is significant for Charter, and we think it is even more significant for programmers and the broader video ecosystem.\nWe have proposed a model to The Walt Disney Company that we believe creates better alignment for the industry and better products for customers. It is a model that could both stabilize linear video and create a clear growth path for direct-to-consumer (DTC) video, with a more customer-friendly and financially attractive end-state for programmers.\nBackgroundThis situation didn't come about overnight, and it isn't one programmer's fault. For the last decade, linear video subscription services have been in decline, fueled by the migration of valuable programming to DTC options coupled with a vicious cycle of programming cost increases and subscriber losses.\nOver the last five years alone, the linear video industry, including both traditional and virtual multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), has lost nearly 25 million customers...