In the last several years, one of the most contentious subjects between the cable television industry and broadcast television station owners has been value. Just how valuable are free-to-air television stations to MVPDs, which must compensate licensees for the right to carry their broadcast television assets on a for-profit lineup provided by the likes of Comcast, Charter Communications and Optimum or perhaps smaller ACA Connects members.
Already, retransmission consent battles have seen Dish tussle last weekend with The Walt Disney Co., resulting in a two-day “blackout” of every Disney-owned channel to Dish customers.
It all began on October 5, 1992.
Reminding those across the television industry of the anniversary of the 1992 Cable Act’s enactment is ACA Connects, the lobbying voice for small and independent MVPDs based in Pittsburgh.
The legislation included retransmission consent, allowing over-the-air TV stations to collect a mutually agreed upon payment in exchange for the intellectual property supplied to a MVPD that it had been profiting on for more than a decade.
Don’t tell that to ACA Connects. “Today, retransmission consent costs consumers ~$12 billion annually for ‘free TV,’” the group’s spokesman said via e-mail.
Indeed, retransmission consent revenue is highly important to a publicly traded broadcast television station. In years without political advertising revenue, it will be vital to maintaining profits while factoring in expenses associated with the transition to NEXTGEN TV and the ATSC 3.0 technology.
And, as retrans revenue has risen substantially for broadcast TV, so have the battles with MVPDs.
The battle over retrans even pre-dates the legislation’s passage in Congress.
Although President George H.W. Bush vetoed the bill, the 1992 Cable Act was the only veto out of 44 that he was unable to sustain, as Congress narrowly passed it over Bush’s “no.”
Who was in the Senate at the time and still in office?
Patrick Leahy, Chuck Grassley, Mitch McConnell and Richard Shelby.
Meanwhile, then-House Members today in the Senate include Bernie Sanders, Dick Durban and Ron Wyden.
Still in the House after 30 years are such Members as Maxine Waters, Nancy Pelosi and Jerry Nadler.
As ACA Connects and the industry look back, it notes that reform ideas have emerged in recent years. The Modern Television Act of 2021, a bipartisan bill introduced in the House by co-sponsored by Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) and Steve Scalise (R-La.), would repeal retransmission consent.
Since March 2021, however, it has not gained one co-sponsor and has withered after being referred in May 2021 to the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet.
Meanwhile, to combat rising retransmission consent fees, MVPDs such as Charter Communications will be raising its costs to subscribers rather than reduce its profits or adjust its executive’s salaries.
As reported by Matthew Keys at his blog, The Desk, Charter in late September began issuing notices to customers of its Spectrum-branded video services warning that the price of their programming packages will go up by at least $4 a month.
“Charter customers already pay a broadcast fee of around $21 a month, after the company raised it by $3 in March,” Keys reported. “The new price increase will see some Spectrum TV customers shelling out around $25 a month for their local ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and PBS stations that can often be received for free with an antenna.”
Charter’s broadcast TV fee increase takes effect on November 1.
