Have watched two reports on this tonight. Disney is living in the past and thinks they can still charge whatever they want , especially for ESPN. Charter Spectrum says that according to their data only 25% of their customers watch any Disney channels including ESPN. They offered a more realistic deal and Disney turned them down.
All this will ultimately impact Disney revenues from their other cable deals. They have made so mistakes it is finally hurting them. Add in to that they need money and lots of it. They are contractually obligated to buy the 1/3 of Hulu they do not own and that will add up to billions they need right now to close the deal by December 31, 2023. So they will have to sell off some assets like Fox to make it work or a piece of ESPN itself.
Oh and their stock closed at a big low also today.