Variety: Max Will Be Bundled for No Extra Charge With Charter’s Spectrum TV Select Plan Under Early Warner Bros. Discovery Deal Renewal

Story from Variety:

Charter Communications, now the No. 1 U.S. cable TV operator, continues to reshape its video biz for the streaming era: Under an early deal renewal with Warner Bros. Discovery, Spectrum TV Select customers will have access to the Max streaming service “at no extra charge.”

The two sides reached the new deal “nearly a year early,” according to Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav. Under the multiyear pact, the ad-supported version of Max — including all HBO and Max content — as well as Discovery+ will be bundled with all Spectrum TV Select packages for no additional fee.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Warner Bros. Discovery and Charter said the streaming component reflects “a mutually beneficial new arrangement between the two companies.” As of the end of June, Charter had 12.72 million residential video subs, a drop of 393,000 in the period and down 9.6% year over year. Including business pay-TV customers, Charter’s video base stood at 13.3 million as of June 30.

The addition of Max and Discovery+ to the Spectrum TV lineup comes after Charter inked similar deals with Disney for Disney+ and ESPN+ and with Paramount Global for Paramount+ and BET+, alongside agreements to bundle AMC+ and Vix.

Of course, the bundling of Max, Discovery+ and the other streamers to Spectrum TV isn’t exactly “free”: Charter is incorporating the cost into the overall price of the service. This July, Charter hiked the prices of Spectrum TV Select by $3 per month in certain regions.

News of the Warner Bros. Discovery-Charter renewal comes as the blackout on DirecTV of Disney’s channels including ESPN and ABC enters its 12th day after Disney and DirecTV failed to renew their carriage contract Sept. 1.

Charter reached its deal renewal with Disney on Sept. 11, 2023, following a 12-day blackout; under that deal, Disney networks such as Freeform were dropped from Spectrum TV but Charter secured rights to bundle Disney+ and ESPN+ with its cable TV packages.

“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,” Zaslav said in announcing the pact. “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 CEO Chris Winfrey commented, “This strategic relationship with Warner Bros. Discovery further evolves the linear and broadband video distribution model and supports Spectrum’s efforts to provide flexible packages, whether through hybrid linear-[direct-to-consumer] full video relationships, smaller video packages with DTC add-ons, or a suite of a-la-carte or bundled DTC options for broadband customers.”

The long-term agreement also “favorably extends” Spectrum’s carriage of Warner Bros. Discovery’s linear network portfolio, including TNT, CNN, Food Network, HGTV, TLC, Discovery, TBS, Adult Swim and Investigation Discovery, the companies said.

In addition, the deal establishes Max as a “preferred partner” for Spectrum when marketing and selling direct-to-consumer apps and bundles to broadband subscribers, creating “a significant opportunity that will reach Charter’s full video and broadband customer base,” according to the companies.

Spectrum plans a “full deployment” of its DTC distribution to broadband customers in 2025, following the 2024 deployment of its streaming inclusion and upgrade offers. Spectrum’s DTC distribution plan will include separate pricing, packaging and billing capabilities for streaming video services offered to broadband customers.