Entertainment heavyweight Walt Disney Co. is chiming in on the Fox-Time Warner fee negotiations. Disney, which waged a fee war of its own with the cable provider in 2000, sent a statement to Los Angeles Times blogger Joe Flint, criticizing Time Warner:
The parent of cable networks ESPN and Disney Channel as well as broadcast network ABC said in a statement to Company Town that "cable operators pay only about 25 dollars a month for all of the programming on the basic and expanded basic tiers, and they sell this to consumers for some $60 to $70 dollars."
Disney went on to say that given "the fact that cable operators use these video offerings to sell even higher-margin broadband and phone services, blaming the programmers for monthly cable bill increases is just plain wrong."
With the contract deadline looming, who knows how the plot will thicken over the next 24 hours?