Broadcasters and a group that includes pay-TV providers traded questions...
Broadcasters and a group that includes pay-TV providers traded questions for each other on retransmission consent Monday, as NAB holds its annual convention. The American Television Alliance (ATVA) of cable, DBS, telco-video companies and others seeking retrans rule changes said…
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it wants TV stations to consider updating a system that’s been “static and unchanged” since 1992. ATVA said NAB attendees should ask whether broadcasters are “exploiting government regulations that restrict the free market.” An NAB spokesman responded with questions of his own. “How does ATVA explain the fact that pay-TV rates have risen on average more than four times the rate of inflation for the last 20 years,” he asked. “Is ATVA aware that broadcast retransmission consent fees account for only 2 cents on every dollar paid to a cable company?” Retrans rules or the provisions of the 1992 Cable Act allowing stations to charge pay-TV companies for carriage are unlikely to be changed soon (CD March 23 p10).