Neither ESPN parent Disney nor Charter Spectrum blinked over the sports-filled Labor Day weekend — escalating a distribution dispute with serious ramifications on the long-term health of the traditional cable TV bundle. 

Five days after 19 Disney channels — including ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU — went dark on the country’s second-largest cable carrier, there has been no significant movement toward a new carriage deal, despite ongoing talks involving top executives at both companies. 

That has led ESPN to raise its promotional offensive and increasingly encourage affected subscribers to seek alternate video providers.

No less than Stephen A. Smith — one of ESPN’s leading on-air personalities with 5.8 million subscribers on X, formerly known as Twitter — posted on the issue Tuesday, telling consumers that “YOU HAVE CHOICES!!!” including streaming services such as YouTube TV, Sling, and Fubo.

ESPN and Disney have also ramped up their broader promotion of Hulu + Live TV, a tier of the Disney-owned streaming service including ESPN+.

Charter, however, remains firm on forging an entirely different paradigm for the traditional bundle, which for decades has relied in part on consumers paying for sports channels whether or not they watch them.

“Charter seems genuinely willing to walk away from Disney, and even the entire linear video model, if necessary,” said media research firm MoffettNathanson. “The collateral damage could be wide-ranging.”

The companies’ actions continue to be closely watched as ESPN’s first “Monday Night Football” game of the season on Sept. 11 approaches.

Charter has 14.7 million subscribers across 41 states — including many in key media markets such as New York and Los Angeles — and trails only Comcast among cable subscribers.

You’ve heard it before: another day, another Messi milestone.

This time, new numbers show Apple TV gained more than 100,000 subscribers to MLS Season Pass on the day of Lionel Messi’s first game with Inter Miami last month. Those figures climb even higher when factoring in the weeks surrounding the superstar’s arrival in the U.S.

Now, the league, Apple, and Inter Miami are all hoping to keep the momentum going — even as Messi’s availability is spread increasingly thin. 

Despite a 4% probability of making the playoffs, Inter Miami is among the favorites to win the MLS Cup at most sportsbooks. But the club — currently 14th in the Eastern Conference and five spots out of the postseason — will have to continue its push without Messi, who will miss Saturday’s game against Sporting KC while on duty for Argentina.

Messi could miss two more games this fall while playing for his home nation. Not only does his absence hurt Miami on the field, but it also jeopardizes the subscriber gains Apple has seen as well as rising general interest in MLS.

On Sunday, Inter Miami beat championship contenders LAFC, currently third place in the Western Conference, but the club will likely need to win a majority of its final nine MLS games to qualify for the postseason.  

Messi’s time at Inter Miami has already been full of must-win games, with the club lifting the inaugural Leagues Cup and reaching the U.S. Open Cup final. Another run of can’t-lose matches would no doubt be content gold for Apple and MLS — but only if Messi is on the pitch.

Professional tennis may soon get a makeover: The ATP and WTA tours are set to discuss a merger later this month.

While the top men’s and women’s players in the world often compete on the same courts throughout the year at Grand Slams and other top events, the tours are two separate entities with their own budgets, media rights deals, and overall revenue streams.

Now, Andrea Gaudenzi and Steve Simon — the respective CEOs of the ATP and WTA — and other top executives from both tours are planning to convene in London to explore aligning their competitions and pooling their assets, according to The Telegraph.

The idea of an ATP-WTA merger is not new — Roger Federer called for such three years ago — but there has not been any significant progress towards an official deal. 

Earlier this summer, John McEnroe said he believed a merger was going to happen “at some point soon.” Top American player Taylor Fritz told Front Office Sports, “I think that we could come together and sell the package of WTA, ATP tennis together.”

Prize money has been a focus for the WTA, which already announced plans to achieve equal pay with the ATP by 2033. A merger would likely help advance that initiative even sooner.

In 2023, the ATP is shelling out a record $217.9 million in prize money, about 75% more than the WTA. The four Grand Slams — which are operated independently from the ATP and WTA — offer equal prize money for the men’s and women’s draws.