Disney on Wednesday cut the price of its Disney+ streaming service to less than $2 as its channels remain blocked amid an epic battle with cable provider Charter Communications.
The Mouse House has reduced its advertising tier to $1.99 from its current price of $7.99 per month.
The promotion, which runs until September 20, forces the lowest price for only three months before returning to the previous price.
“We haven’t seen this before from Disney,” said Rich Greenfield, co-founder of Lightshed Partners.
Disney, which has seen subscribers abandon the service, has seen its block of popular channels such as ESPN shut down in nearly 15m homes over a carriage fee dispute with Charter, the second-biggest cable TV company.
“This is likely due to a lack of accelerated subscriber growth,” he said, referring to Disney+’s recent loss of 11.7 million subscribers in the most recent quarter.
“It may also be due to the lack of charter and advertising,” the analyst added. “We don’t know.”
The timing of the price drop comes not only as Disney+ prepares to release a wave of new films like Pixar’s “Elemental” and the live-action adaptation of “The Little Mermaid,” but also as it hopes to add new customers to its network. The service, which has 146.1 million subscribers.
Since Disney CEO Bob Iger returned to his position in 2022, Disney has focused on increasing the profitability of its streaming division, which includes Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu, amid an acceleration of cable cuts.
Last week, Charter banned Disney cable channels from appearing on its Spectrum network in key markets including New York and Los Angeles after the two companies failed to secure a distribution agreement.
On Tuesday, Disney urged angry customers to sign up for its Hulu + Live TV or other streaming TV services.
“Despite the ongoing dispute, consumers have many other options — such as Hulu + Live TV — that allow them to enjoy the great programming that Disney Entertainment is known for,” the company said in a statement.
“There is no contract, there is no cable box, and there is no wait time for a subscription,” Disney said in a blog post.
The impasse comes during a busy time in the sports calendar, which includes the start of the college football season, the US Open tennis tournament and the imminent start of the National Football League season.
Spectrum blocked ESPN, which airs the US Open, last Friday, as well as ABC-owned stations — including ABC 7 New York — and its affiliates and channels like Freeform, FX and National Geographic.
Charter said it was paying about $2.2 billion in annual programming costs to Disney, excluding the impact of advertising revenue for both parties.
The cable company pledged to continue negotiating in good faith in a letter to viewers on blocked channels.
“We offered Disney a fair deal, but they are asking for an excessive raise,” Spectrum said.
“They also want to limit our ability to provide customers greater choice in programming packages, forcing you to accept and pay for channels you might not want.”
Meanwhile, Disney told The Post it has been in ongoing discussions with Charter for some time, but has not yet reached a “new market-based agreement.”
Disney, which has seen its shares reach a nine-year low, in part due to disruption to its traditional TV business, did not disclose how much it wanted the charter company to pay.
“Disney Entertainment has successful deals with pay-TV providers of all types and sizes across the country, and the prices and terms we are pursuing in this renewal are market-driven,” the company said.
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