Disney and Charter Resolve Cable Blackout, Restoring ESPN and ABC to Millions

Disney and Charter Communications have reached a deal to end the cable blackout, allowing millions of Charter cable customers to watch "Monday Night Football." The agreement includes the inclusion of Disney's ad-supported streaming apps, Disney+ and ESPN+, in some of Charter's Spectrum pay TV packages. Disney will receive increased subscriber fees from Charter. While not all Charter pay-TV customers will have access to all of Disney's apps, this deal marks a step in that direction as cord-cutting becomes more prevalent. The dispute between Charter and Disney began in August, leaving millions of customers without Disney TV channels. Charter saw some customers switch to internet-TV options like Hulu + Live TV or YouTube TV. The blackout did not affect fans immediately, as it ended just in time for "Monday Night Football."