Shares of several entertainment companies including Fox Corp. and Warner Brothers Discovery were dragged down on Friday by a dispute between media heavyweight Disney and cable provider Charter Communications over television distribution fees., including ESPN and ABC, from being shown on Charter’s Spectrum network after the two companies failed to secure a distribution agreement. Spectrum is the second largest US cable provider, serving 14.
Shares of Disney dropped 2.65% to a three-year low while Charter lost 3.4%. Warner Brothers Discovery fell 10%, Fox shed 6%, Paramount Global dropped 8%, while Comcast, the largest US cable provider, was down nearly 3%.Spectrum is the second largest US cable provider, serving 14.7 million homes across large markets such as New York and Los Angeles.
“Disney – so far – has insisted on a traditional long-term deal with higher rates and limited packaging flexibility,” Charter said in a presentation published on Friday.