Charter/Disney Deal May Not Save Linear Cable After All, LightShed Says

Charter Communications' 2023 carriage deal with Disney that includes access to Disney+ (see 2309110034) may not fix the declining linear cable bundle as many thought it would, Lightshed Partners said this week. Indications that few Charter cable subscribers are activating their free Disney+ accounts point to a problem with the linear cable bundle -- the bundle is bloated, LightShed said. An even-bigger bundle that now includes streaming and is increasingly expensive appears to be driving yet more cord-cutting rather than making the bundle more compelling or sticky, it said. Focusing on lower affiliate fees and far lower minimum distribution packaging requirements may be a better route for multichannel video programming distributors, it said. Those would let MVPDs offer smaller and cheaper video packages, with subscribers able to add on whatever streaming apps they want, it said.