Robert Prather, the group’s president-COO, says about 45% of Gray’s retrans deals are up this year and he hopes to have those concluded by year end. He’s set to talk with NBC about Gray’s 10 affiliates by the end of the month.
EARNINGS CALL
Gray Set To Talk Reverse Comp With NBC
Although Gray Television’s network affiliation agreements don’t start to come due until next year, the company expects to start talking with NBC by the end of the month, Robert Prather, Gray president-COO said during this morning’s third-quarter earnings conference call.
Gray’s 34-station group includes 10 NBC affiliates.
A key part of the affiliation talks will be a discussion of reverse compensation — what affiliates pay networks to carry their programming.
Increasingly, reverse compensation and retransmission fees are intertwined. As station groups negotiate retrans fees with cable and satellite operators, networks are seeking a piece of the action.
“The good news is we have some time,” Prather said of the affiliation talks. “The bad news is most of market will be set by then. We think we’ll be able to maintain retrans growth on the cable side to more than offset payments to the networks.”
Prather said about 45% of Gray’s retrans deals are up this year and he hopes to have those concluded by year end.
BRAND CONNECTIONS
NBC reportedly is seeking to split retrans fees with affiliates 50-50. It has floated the idea of being affiliates’ proxy in retrans negotiations with cable and satellite operators. But details of how the proxy arrangement would work remain fluid.
“We’ve been told by the affiliate relations people at NBC that they have not come up with plan yet — they’ve asked for patience,” Prather said. “I think personally it’s such a difficult thing … they’ll have a hard time coming up with something that works for all the affiliate stations. Right now, there’s nothing on the table.”
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