Walt Disney and Time Warner Cable have agreed to terms on a carriage agreement, 10 days before the start of the NFL regular season. Sources confirmed that the companies agreed to the terms that would avoid a blackout of Disney’s ABC and ESPN shows as threatened on the cable system. The current contract between Time Warner Cable and Disney expires a week before the NFL season begins in New Orleans between the Saints and the Vikings from Minnesota. The ESPN opener features Baltimore Ravens and the New York Jets.

Few details of this pact have emerged too and although the terms have to be reviewed by the legal teams of both the companies, there are no anticipated fireworks. One question that remains unanswered is how much Disney could extract for ABC, which is asking for distinct carriage fees for the 1st time. One source from Wall Street said that it would be surprising to find Disney taking less than 40 cents per month per subscriber for ABC but the more important question was just how much of a raise will ESPN get. In talks, the broadcast companies have been requesting for 1dollar per subscriber for the premium content.

A source close to the companies also noted that the carriage talks today have added some level of complexity to how well the shows could be made available to online users. A potential sticky point was whether Time Warner cable will be paying to make ESPN3 sports service from Disney available for all subscribers online. TWC wanted to gauge the public interest in such a service. The diminishing business of video subscription is being protected by Pay TV operators in the face of the poor housing market leading to many households shutting off the cable TV altogether and also increasing threat from the rival online services.