Chris Winfrey: Last News

UPDATED WITH details and company comment. Disney and Charter Communications have reached a carriage renewal, ending a 10-day impasse that drew intense scrutiny to the shifting economics of pay-TV in the streaming era.

Charter CEO Chris Winfrey acknowledged the “chatter” in the media business and on Wall Street about a potential merger with Comcast, but said such a megadeal is not “core” to his company’s strategy.

Charter Communications CEO Chris Winfrey says the Spectrum pay-TV and broadband parent is “fighting for video,” in collaboration with frenemies like Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav.

Charter Communications CEO Chris Winfrey said the company’s ongoing integration of streaming services for Spectrum TV and internet customers will have “a pretty significant impact on acquisition and retention.”

Warner Bros. Discovery and Charter Communications announced a multi-year distribution partnership that includes Max and Discovery+ tiers for Charter subscribers, a deal they said “further evolves the video ecosystem with more value and flexibility in video bundles, deeper libraries and more choice to better align with customers’ current viewing preferences.” 

It was a year of pain for the entertainment industry and shareholders of (many) media companies with brutal months-long Hollywood strikes, and layoffs. Linear television continued to decline and a nascent theatrical recovery went sideways. Most CEOs saw pay packages rise in 2023, some by big multiples.

Charter Communications CEO Chris Winfrey recently encountered a TV ad that conjured memories of his company’s carriage battle with Disney last September. This commercial message, however, came from a different legacy media company pushing into subscription streaming.

Hulu + Live TV revealed Friday that it has begun offering new and eligible returning subscribers to its service a discounted rate of $49.99 per month for three months.

With its carriage fight with Charter about to enter its second week, Disney issued a statement blasting the Spectrum TV owner’s “indifference” to customers and a Wall Street investment bank predicted a compromise by the ESPN parent.

Charter CEO Chris Winfrey indicated that little progress has been made in the week-long carriage fight with Disney and he said a leaner, ESPN-free TV bundle “could stick” with price-sensitive Spectrum customers.

A class action has arrived at the doorstep of Charter Communications in its high-stakes carriage standoff with The Walt Disney Co.

Addressing Thursday night’s carriage impasse with Disney, Charter Communications executives told Wall Street investors on a conference call today that their linear video business is “at the edge of a precipice.”

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Chris Winfrey, a longtime senior executive at cable giant Charter Communications, will become president and CEO of the company, starting December 1. He will succeed Tom Rutledge, the cable-industry veteran ,who will serve as executive chairman of the company and its board of directors. Winfrey has been chief operating officer of Charter, the operator of the massive Spectrum cable service, after a long stint working as its chief financial officer., “It has been an honor and a pleasure to lead Charter and this incredible team over the past 10 years,” said Rutledge, in a statement. “We have grown the company through innovation and strategic investments and have positioned Charter to provide the best converged connectivity products and services available today. During my 50 years in this industry, I have witnessed first-hand its ability to continually evolve and change the world, and our opportunity today is greater than ever with ubiquitous connectivity being central to everything we do.”

Charter Communications followed Comcast’s uneven financial report on Thursday with its own mixed batch of results, which featured an unusual decline in broadband subscribers but also key metrics above Wall Street expectations.