Dish-Disney Deal Bodes Well For Affiliates

[Commentary] The Dish-Disney deal got a lot of media play, but none of the coverage I saw considered the impact on network affiliates.

With the various Disney programming services as charter tenants, Dish plans to launch an online video service that would be the functional equivalent of cable TV circa 1989. It will comprise a bunch a cable networks and the local broadcast signals and sell for $20-$30 a month.

Dish believes such a service will appeal to young people. “We think there is a group of individuals, 18-to-34-year-olds, who would love to have a lower-cost product with some of the top content out there,” David Shull, Dish's chief commercial officer told Bloomberg.

“That’s who we’ll be targeting.” Its deal with Disney includes ESPN, the Disney Channel, ABC Family and the ABC O&Os. But as good as those channels are, they are far from sufficient. Dish will have to cut similar multichannel deals with the likes of CBS, Fox, NBCUniversal, Viacom and Turner.