Charter Communications has renewed its carriage agreement with Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) that, similar to other deals struck over the past year, allows it to offer Spectrum TV customers access to ad-supported streaming services.
Specifically, the agreement reached this week gives Spectrum TV subscribers continued access to basic cable channels like CNN, TBS, TNT, Tru TV, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and Travel Channel, while also integrating the ad-supported tiers of Discovery Plus and Max into their packages.
Interestingly, the arrangement didn’t come at the conclusion of Charter’s in-force contract with WBD, which had at least one year left. Instead, the two companies mutually decided to renew the carriage agreement, so Charter could offer its Spectrum TV customers access to WBD’s two streaming services.
“This innovative partnership with Charter recognizes the value of our linear content and the investments we’ve made in premium original programming, sports and news, while also significantly expanding the distribution of Max’s ad-supported service to Spectrum’s millions of Select customers,” said David Zaslav, the President and CEO of WBD. “We did this agreement together nearly a year early to set a framework for the future and to provide more consumers access to our unparalleled content offering while giving the industry more resilience as it evolves. We are pleased this achieves each of our company’s objectives.”
Charter has reached similar agreements over the past year, including a groundbreaking arrangement with the Walt Disney Company last September that set the stage for future deals. That deal, which came after a short blackout of Disney-owned channels on Spectrum TV, allowed customers who received channels like ABC, ESPN and FX to also get complementary access to Disney Plus, ESPN Plus and Hulu, depending on their programming package.
Charter has since inked streaming-inclusive TV deals with Paramount Global, AMC Networks, Allen Media Group and Televisa-Univision.
“This strategic relationship with WBD further evolves the linear and broadband video distribution model and supports Spectrum’s efforts to provide flexible packages, whether through hybrid linear-DTC (direct to consumer) full video relationships, smaller video packages with DTC add-ons, or a suite of à la carte or bundled DTC options for broadband customers,” said Charter President and CEO Chris Winfrey. “The inclusion of the ad-supported version of Max and Discovery+ in our most popular packages at no additional cost ensures we provide the most value to our customers, particularly when combined with the utility of Xumo, which seamlessly integrates live linear, DVR and VOD (video on-demand), DTC, and SVOD (subscription video on-demand) content with unified search and discovery for the best overall customer experience. WBD’s creativity and commitment to a healthier video ecosystem further enables us to deliver on our core principles to create value and choice for customers.”
In addition to the Spectrum TV deal, Charter says its agreement with WBD will give it the opportunity to market Max to its Spectrum Internet subscribers, who will be able to purchase a subscription to the streaming service through Charter itself and have their Internet and streaming plan charged on a single bill. That will happen at some point next year, Charter said on Thursday.
