| Multichannel News, June 20, 2009 | Retransmission Feuds Ease Up | Era of Feuding May Be Over, Analysts Say ? At Least for Big MSOs | by Mike Farrell | | Broadcasters and pay TV service providers may have informally | turned down the retransmission-consent volume over the past | several months, as the nation moved through some potentially | dicey regulatory periods ? the analog-to-digital transition | and the new presidential administration. | | And though it is likely that a few heated discussions will pop | up over the next few years, some analysts believe that, at | least for now, the old days of bitter, drawn-out fights | between cable operators and station groups may be over.
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- Which stations MUST BE carried.
- Which stations could be carried at the cable company's option.
- Which stations COULD NOT be carried.
Cable companies did not have to obtain a station's permission before carrying it. Most broadcast station licensees didn't even know how many cable systems were carrying their signals, or where they were.
In 1975, Time, Inc. began to transmit HBO nationwide via satellite. Shortly thereafter two more satellite-delivered cable-only channels were launched: Ted Turner's Atlanta UHF station WTCG (now TBS Superstation) and Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network (now ABC Family). Within a few years, numerous other channels were launched. Today, hundreds of satellite-delivered channels are available from dozens of suppliers.
Programmers charge cable systems for the right to carry their channels. License fees vary widely, ranging from zero (religious and home-shopping channels) to over $2.00 per subscriber per month (ESPN).
But the old FCC rules governing the retransmission of broadcast television stations remained largely unchanged until 1992.
In 1992, Congress enacted the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992. This act gave broadcast station licensees control over cable-system carriage of their signals. Under this Act, each licensee has the right to choose two options with respect to any give cable system:
- MUST CARRY: The cable system must carry the signal under technical rules specified by the FCC. However, the station cannot charge for the use of its signal.
- RETRANSMISSION CONSENT: The cable system is required to obtain the permission of the licensee. The licensee is free to demand compensation or impose other requirements.
Most large regional independent stations and major network affiliates usually elect retransmission consent. Less popular stations usually elect must carry.
For several years after 1992, stations electing retransmission consent did not demand financial compensation. However, many of them demanded that cable systems carry (and pay for) co-owned non-broadcast programming. Example: Disney required cable systems to carry most Disney-owned non-broadcast channels (Disney Channel, Lifetime, A&E, History, ESPN and its clones).
With the rise of satellite television (DirecTV and Dish) and telco-delivered television (FIOS, U-Verse), similar must-carry/retransmission-consent procedures were put in place.
In recent years, station licensees have been demanding financial compensation as a condition for granting retransmission consent. Example: as I noted here two years ago, Univision affiliates now charge $1.00/subscriber/month for the signal.
Of course, whichever side wins these battles, the subscribers lose. If a cable/sat company drops a station's signal, the subscribers lose a channel. If the cable/sat company gives in and agrees to pay a larger fee, the cost is passed along to the subscribers.
Although this situation has hit all cable and sat providers, it has hit small cable operators particularly hard. The American Cable Association, representing small cable companies, has led an effort to get Congress to provide some relief from ever-increasing retransmission consent fees.
Neal McLain aka texascableguy