As a TV consumer, you’ve heard about retransmission consent. It forces TV providers like Butler-Bremer Communications to carry local broadcast stations, and it allows local broadcast stations to charge us whatever they want. If we don’t pay the fees they demand, they can shut off your channels.
These “forced” fees paid by TV providers have become a huge source of revenue for networks and local broadcast stations in recent years, and are one of the main sources of revenue that are keeping broadcast stations afloat. Unfortunately, it looks like it’s going to get even worse.
Retransmission fees already went up a whopping 20% from 2015 to 2016, and the latest forecast is that they will nearly DOUBLE over the next 5 years.
So what does this mean to you?
Currently the “average” that a TV provider like Butler-Bremer is required to pay to EACH local TV station is about $1.40 per customer per month, and even higher if it’s a “Big 4” station (ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX). This is already a higher price per channel than we pay to all but three cable networks! Now, industry experts are predicting that these rates will hike to an average of $1.87 per station in 2019 and $2.21 per station in 2022. And while we try to absorb the brunt of those increases, this will inevitably cause increases for you, the TV consumers.
If you’re interested in keeping up with the latest “behind the scenes” developments in the TV industry, please check out www.TVOnMySide.com. And as always, we will continue to do the very best we can to negotiate for lower rates to keep your TV bill as low as possible!