As we say goodbye to the regular season and anxiously say hello to the fickle beast known as the postseason, the Los Angeles Times‘ Meg James reported that New York cable provider Altice USA (the operator of Optimum Cable Service) and the Walt Disney Corporation struck a new television deal just before Sunday’s 5:00 p.m. ET deadline.
According to James, the last contract between the two powerhouses expired on Saturday. But a Sunday extension was granted due to the observance of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur.
James added that the holdup in the new agreement was due to Altice’s reluctance to meet the exorbitantly-high asking price to carry ESPN, especially considering the severe subscriber decline that the network has recently suffered.