There’s a new vigilance taking place among the smallest of MVPDs regarding what many industry observers — including those on Wall Street — have been fearing with respect to new broadcast TV retransmission fee agreements.
The “coercion” of American Cable Association (ACA) members of carrying ATSC 3.0 signals, along with ATSC 1.0 signals, as part of a new beefier-to-broadcasters retrans consent deal will not be tolerated by the Pittsburgh-based advocacy association. And, it’s sent a letter to the FCC telling it is keeping a close eye on the “thousands of agreements” members will be negotiating over the next five weeks.
RBR+TVBR OBSERVATION (Full Text Below, for Members Only): Here comes the broadcast industry’s UFC free-for-all. On one side of the ring are broadcast TV companies who have rapidly increased their retransmission fees, to help combat shrinking advertising income while also dealing with costs associated with network affiliation — which no one seems to be talking about.
