The Walt Disney Company and Dish Network Corporation today announced a long-term distribution agreement that will provide Dish customers with access to Disney-owned programming. The distribution agreement grants Dish rights to content from the ABC-owned broadcast stations, ABC Family, Disney Channel, ESPN and ESPN2, as part of an Internet delivered, IP-based multichannel offering — but with a catch for the consumer. Under the terms of the deal, users must wait three days before being able to skip commercials on new programming saved by the Hopper DVR.
Dish will make available Disney Junior, Fusion, ESPN Goal Line, ESPN Buzzer Beater, as well as Longhorn Network and the upcoming SEC ESPN Network upon its launch. In addition, Dish, ESPN and ESPN Deportes customers will have access to the live and video-on-demand channel ESPN3. As part of the agreement, Dish will launch ESPNEWS, ESPNU, Disney Channel and ABC Family in high definition. ESPN Classic will be reintroduced as a video-on-demand channel.
The agreement will result in dismissal of all pending litigation between the two companies, including disputes over PrimeTime Anytime and AutoHop. The deal also provides an undisclosed structure for other advertising models as the market evolves, including dynamic ad insertion, advertising on mobile devices and extended advertising measurement periods.
The companies also renewed carriage agreement for ABC’s eight wholly-owned local stations, including WABC-TV in New York City, KABC-TV in Los Angeles, WLS-TV in Chicago, WPVI-TV in Philadelphia, KGO-TV in San Francisco, WTVD-TV in Raleigh-Durham, KTRK-TV in Houston, and KFSN-TV in Fresno.
