Paramount Global, which is in the midst of corporate upheaval on several fronts, received a slight reprieve in a key area by extending carriage negotiations with Charter Communications.
In the last 48 hours, the media company saw the exit of CEO Bob Bakish, the highly anticipated release of first quarter results and a revised takeover offer from Skydance Media.
The current agreement between the companies was set to expire at midnight on Tuesday. The extension of the talks was confirmed to Deadline by sources familiar with the negotiations. It was unclear whether there would be a firm, revised deadline, but discussions are ongoing. There have been no screen crawls or ominous email alerts to customers so far, suggesting that the parties are aiming for a no-fireworks deal, at least at this point.
There is a lot at stake for both companies. Charter, which operates pay-TV and broadband brand Spectrum, recently surpassed Comcast to become the No. 1 pay-TV operator in the United States. Wall Street analysts and participants in an expected M&A transaction are closely following talks with Charter. The company’s transitional state has made a failure of Charter unthinkable.
The Stamford, CT-based company didn’t hesitate to leverage its size last August. It ultimately prevailed in a widely watched dispute with Disney that unfolded at a crucial time when the U.S. Open tennis and college football tournaments were being broadcast on ESPN and local ABC networks. The resulting 10-day blackout left millions of customers in the dark, and at the end of the showdown, the agreement reached by the parties created a new template for pay-TV providers. Charter removed major networks like Freeform and others from its linear systems and instead offered its customers to integrate and promote streaming services.
Charter CEO Chris Winfrey and other executives have indicated they have no plans to back off the accelerator as they begin sales discussions with other companies. Their mantra is not to allow programmers to charge customers double for programming. This could put many of Paramount’s general entertainment networks in a difficult position, considering how many of their titles are streamed on Paramount+ (whose lowest tier is one of the cheapest in the streaming market) in addition to linear distribution.
One factor that could work in Paramount’s favor is the timing of the end of the current deal. While there’s never a better time for a carriage drama, the next few weeks won’t bring anything like the Disney Corridor when the networks went down. NFL Football, perhaps the brightest jewel in Paramount’s crown, is still four months away from kickoff.