Retransmission redux
Remember when Nexstar Broadcasting was on a mission to get retransmission fees from every cable company where they had a presence? The company has announced the fruits of its whining labor: $48 million. That figure is spread out among the 150 cable companies, which means Nexstar got an average of $320,000 in fees and whatnot from each station.
$48 million isn't going to put a dent in that half-billion dollar black hole in Nexstar's budget. But they've proved they can "convince" most cable companies to fork over the money, and when renewal time comes up, Nexstar will have another easy source of revenue.
$48 million isn't going to put a dent in that half-billion dollar black hole in Nexstar's budget. But they've proved they can "convince" most cable companies to fork over the money, and when renewal time comes up, Nexstar will have another easy source of revenue.
posted by Howard Beale at 10:24 AM
7 Comments:
I wonder if Nexstar gets fees from Direct TV???
DirecTV already pays Nexstar retransmission fees. They probably got a few extra subscribers as well, during Nexstar's "Cable sucks! Go satellite!" campaign.
So if Direct TV pays why did the cable companies expect to continue getting away with paying nothing????
The cable companies reasoned that anyone could pick up the signal for free using an antenna. They're no different. Also, they're helping get a clean signal into every home in the market. That's something that the stations can't do with antennas and translators. The anti Nexstar letter that appeared on the Adams Cable web site as one for the ages.
In a related matter. The Cablevision system in Matamoras and Westfall in eastern Pike County still did not put the Scranton Market stations back on its system and were heard to be still negotiating. WBRE,WYOU,WVIA and WOLF were yanked off the system on 9/29/03 and that system is now the only one in the state of Pennsylvania without any PA based station. There was a petition containing the signatures of 1400 residents demanding carriage (based upon Historical Carriage rules- the stations were on the system for 35 years) of WBRE and WYOU and also recieved the written support of Sen.Spector and Sen. Santorum.
Directv and Dish are supposed to be making the S/WB market stations to Pike County viewers since the FCC has ruled that WNEP,WBRE and WYOU are signifantly viewed in Pike in regards to the SHVERA act.
This still has not happened yet either. Pike County is still the fastest growing county in the state with several major subdivisions and at least one new major Borough sized town (in Bushkill) planned on the table. The S/WB market stations should be at war to get Pike back into the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Nielsen DMA from New York.
***The S/WB market stations should be at war to get Pike back into the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Nielsen DMA from New York.***
I'd be equally concerned that Wayne and Monroe Counties will, in time, be moved out of Scr/W-B and into NYC. Just my guess, but I say that would have at least as good a chance as happening as Pike coming back into this market. BTW, DirecTV and DISH both pay fees to Nexstar. And this is not meant to defend Nexstar by any means, but owning a cable company is like having a license to print money. Cable operators have had a free ride for a long, long time. They should pay.
Cable Update:
Service Electric went ahead today with the switch of WYOU and WBRE off channels 2 and 3 to 12 and 13...tv guide is on 2 and WCAU is on 3
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