whole story at:
http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/esqu...rk-1201962261/
NBCUniversal will shutter Esquire Network’s linear cable channel and relaunch the brand as a digital-only platform, Variety has learned. The decision to end the cable channel’s operation was spurred by recent negotiations with Charter Communications over a carriage-contract renewal.
Esquire Network was dropped last month from AT&T’s DirecTV and U-Verse services. That move resulted in a loss of 25% of the channel’s subscribers — down from 60 million to 45 million. If Esquire Network were to be dropped by Charter, it would have lost an additional 15 million subscribers, making it no longer viable for Comcast-owned NBCUniversal to continue to operate.
