OAN’s James Meyers
5:16 PM – Wednesday, September 6, 2023
Disney announced on Wednesday that they have lowered their Disney+ subscription prices down to under $2 while its channels are blacked out in an ongoing contract dispute with cable provider Charter Communications.
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The new subscription price will be $1.99 for the current promotion, which is a drastic price drop compared to the usual price of $7.99 a month.
The new promotion, which will reportedly run until September 20th, will be charging the lowered cost for the first three months before returning to the previous price of $7.99 a month.
The move comes after an influx of Disney+ subscribers have left the service and since the platform is losing popular channels, such as ESPN, in almost 15 million homes over the financial dispute with Charter, which is the second biggest cable TV company in the U.S.
“It’s possible this is due to accelerated shortfalls in subscriber growth,” said Lightshed Partners co-founder Rich Greenfield pointing to Disney+’s recent 11.7 million subscriber loss in the most recent quarter.
“It also could be due to Charter and advertising shortfalls,” the analyst added. “We just don’t know.”
The streaming service is hoping to attract new subscribers and will be releasing new feature films, such as Pixar’s “Elemental” and the live-action adaptation of “The Little Mermaid.”
“Despite the ongoing dispute, consumers have many other choices such as Hulu + Live TV that allows them to enjoy the great programming for which Disney Entertainment is known,” the company said in a statement.
The deadlock comes during the start of the college football and National Football League (NFL) seasons, which are televised on ESPN networks.
Representatives from Charter stated it has been paying close to $2.2 billion in annual programming costs to Disney.
Charter claims they will continue to negotiate with Disney, saying, “we offered Disney a fair deal yet they are demanding an excessive increase,” company representatives said.
However, Disney, who has seen their stock hit a nine-year low due to disruption with its TV business, did not say how much they wanted Charter to pay.
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