By Daniel Frankel, FierceCable, September 11, 2014
Seemingly oblivious to the fact that a proposal that would end broadcast-retransmission payments nearly made it onto a Senate bill, CBS Corp. president Les Moonves urged TV stations to get tough with pay-TV operators during retrans negotiations.
Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communicopia Conference in New York on Wednesday, Moonves said he wants CBS to take in $2 billion in annual retrans money by 2020. And for that to happen, affiliated stations not owned by CBS need to step up the amount of retrans coin they're bringing in (CBS gets a cut of its affiliates' retrans money).
"We the networks should not be penalized because you the station do not negotiate retrans properly," he said, with various media, including the New York Post, on hand.
Continued:
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All in the name of "consumer protection" of course.
Neal McLain