Rocketing Retrans Fees Point to Need for FCC Intervention, ATVA Says
Pointing to SNL Kagan projections that retransmission consent fees are expected to hit $9.3 billion this year and nearly $12.8 billion by 2023, up from $7.9 billion in 2016, the American TV Alliance is renewing its push for FCC intervention.…
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In a news release Tuesday, ATVA urged the agency to "take a hard look at the ancient rules on retransmission consent, must carry, and government-backed exclusivity." It said such rules "are directly responsible for skyrocketing fees and the record pace of blackouts this year. These troubling trends should erase any doubts about the necessity for strong Commission oversight during the proposed NextGenTV transition." ATVA has pushed repeatedly for retrans reforms as well as FCC and congressional action (see 1701090039 and 1704040062). NAB in a statement said, "Despite tired rhetoric from ATVA, broadcast programming deserves fair compensation for providing by far the most valuable content taken and re-sold by pay TV companies. Local TV stations look forward to Next Gen TV upgrades, understanding that giant pay TV companies will fight our innovation for anti-competitive reasons." Kagan said Monday that despite those higher retrans fees, station owners' margins are shrinking due to affiliation renewal contracts including bigger network programming expense increases. Kagan said its reverse retrans projections point to major affiliate station group owners paying major broadcast networks $2.9 billion this year, up 34 percent from an estimated $2.2 billion last year.