Nowhere To Go But Up For Retransmission Fees

According to the latest research from SNL Kagan, TV station groups with network O&Os or affiliates are averaging more than $1 per pay-TV subscriber per month in retransmission consent fees. Sinclair, for instance, is getting $1.39; Tegna (formerly Gannett), $1.30; and CBS, $1.22. But those fees could go much higher, said a couple of speakers at the SNL Kagan TV and Radio Finance Summit.

Randy Bongarten, CEO of Bonten Media Group, said he sees a day in the not-too-distant future when cable and satellite broadcasters pay "$4, $5, $6" for the privilege of carrying broadcast signals. That would be in line with the upward trajectory retrans fees have been on for the last six years, back to when stations “weren’t getting anything,” he said. “The good news is we have a very valuable product, and the negotiations with the multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs or payTV) are basically very simple,” Bongarten said. “How many customers are they going to lose if they don’t have us? Its no more complicated than that.”