On 31 August 2023, around 15 million Spectrum cable customers in the US lost ESPN and the rest of Disney’s channels.
It happened in the middle of the US Open and the opening weekend of college football. That’s about as bad as timing gets for a sports network.
Disputes like this between broadcasters and cable companies happen all the time. They’re nearly always about one thing: price. How much the cable company pays per subscriber to carry the channels. One side wants more, the other wants to pay less, and eventually somebody blinks.
This one was different.
Charter, which owns Spectrum, said publicly that the traditional cable model was broken, and that it was prepared to move on from it if necessary. It wasn’t just haggling over the fee. It was questioning what it was paying for.
On 11 September, the two sides reached a deal. Disney’s ad-supported Disney+ would be included in some Spectrum TV packages, with ESPN+ to follow. In return, Charter would stop carrying several of Disney’s smaller channels.
Think about what changed. The argument started as “how much?” and ended as “what, exactly, are we buying?”
That’s a very different kind of negotiation.
When you argue only about price, the pie is fixed. Every pound you gain is a pound I lose. The only tools left are pressure and patience.
But the moment you put more on the table, you can trade things you value differently. Disney cared about getting its streaming services in front of more viewers. Charter cared about giving its customers something they’d actually notice and want. Neither of those is a price.
And here’s the strange part. It took a threat to walk away from the entire business to make the bigger conversation credible. Without that, it would have looked like a bargaining trick.
Next time a negotiation gets stuck on a single number, try asking whether you’re negotiating the right thing at all. Payment terms, timing, scope, exclusivity, what’s left out. There’s usually more on the table than either side has bothered to look at.
Moving from fighting over a fixed pie to building a bigger one is one of the ideas I explore in my book, Marta Skarbek’s This is Negotiation.
Think of the last negotiation you got stuck on price. What else could have been on the table?
Marta Skarbek’s This is Negotiation: https://www.amazon.com/Marta-Skarbeks-This-Negotiation-negotiator/dp/B0D7VXFV7S
#Negotiation, #Disney, #Media, #DealMaking, #BusinessStrategy, #ProblemSolving, #WinWin, #Streaming, #Leadership, #MartaSkarbek
Want more like this?
Get an occasional email when there’s something new worth reading. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
By subscribing you agree to receive occasional emails about new releases. Unsubscribe anytime by replying to any email.