retrans

Sinclair Broadcast Group shot down claims by the FCC that the agency’s intervention was the reason that Dish and Sinclair finally hammered out a new retransmission consent agreement.

Shortly after FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler ordered the Media Bureau to intervene in the blackout, the broadcaster and satellite provider agreed on terms of a new contract.

After failing to come to a new retransmission consent agreement, 129 Sinclair Broadcast Group stations in 79 markets went dark on Dish Network Tuesday, affecting 5 million Dish customers. In response to the complaint filed by Dish requesting injunctive relief, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler directed the Media Bureau to convene an emergency meeting to bring back the local stations on Dish. Both parties have until midnight Wednesday to file their views.

Nine days after Sinclair Broadcast Group and Dish Network extended their deadline for a retransmission agreement, the company’s 150-plus stations are gone from the satcaster in 79 markets nationwide. Maryland-based Sinclair’s stations include affiliates of ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and the CW, and with the fall TV season approaching — and the NFL regular season a mere 16 days away — the stakes are high. Sinclair last month re-upped is affiliate deal with CBS, which carries Sunday pro football games.

CBS has made a wide-ranging content cable carriage agreement with Cablevision Systems Corp. — including a first-ever distribution deal for CBS All Access, the over-the-top digital TV service. The deal, which also covers its first distribution deal for Showtime Internet Service, includes carriage agreement for CBS-owned TV stations, Showtime, CBS Sports Network and Smithsonian Channel.

In the latest round of the never-ending debate over retransmission consent reform, broadcasters are pointing the finger at a few “bad actors” for causing the bulk of local blackouts. Singling out recent disputes involving Dish, Mediacom Communications and DirecTV, the NAB, in a meeting last week with GOP commissioner Ajit Pai’s office, suggested the FCC should apply a “bad actor factor” when the commission considers a good faith complaint.

With much of Washington state in the midst of a fire emergency, two Morgan Murphy Media-owned stations in parts of the state in the center of the fires approached Dish Network yesterday morning to ask if Dish would put the stations in those two markets back up temporarily while the companies continue their ongoing retransmission consent negotiations. Dish agreed and KXLY Spokane and KVEW Yakima are now back on the Dish system for the time being.

DirectTV last night lost Bonneville International’s KSL Salt Lake City. After months of negotiations and several contract extensions, the two companies haven’t reached an agreement that would keep the NBC affiliate on the satellite service.

The Baton Rouge, La., ABC affiliate says the satellite provider has received extensions of the contract that expired at the end of June and if a new agreement isn’t reached by Aug. 21, it will pull its signal.

The broadcaster says the satellite service is using the same tactics in retransmission consent negotiations with it that Dish complained to the FCC about earlier during talks with Sinclair.

An estimated 150,000 DirecTV customers in the San Diego region have lost access to Midwest Television-owned CBS affiliate KFMB. The family-owned TV station’s signal was removed from the satellite giant’s systems at 5 p.m. Thursday — two hours before a preseason NFL contest that saw the San Diego Chargers defeat the Dallas Cowboys.

Dish Network and Sinclair Broadcast Group agreed on a short-term retransmission contract extension, easing a standoff between the companies that threatened customer access to 153 Sinclair stations in 79 markets nationwide.

For the first time in a long time, cable and satellite TV companies think that retransmission consent reform is possible and they’re pushing the FCC as hard as they can to get it. The fight is really a simple one, but the stakes are high. Just follow the money. Broadcasters get billions from pay TV distributors to distribute their signals. It’s a growing pot of revenue that is growing at a healthy clip, expected to hit $10.3 billion by 2021, up from $6.3 billion this year.

If the explosion in cable cord-cutting and on-demand video has turned the steady television business into the Wild West, next month may be high noon at the FCC. The FCC has until Sept. 4 to kick off a critical review of its retransmission consent rules.

Media General ended its retransmission consent standoff with Mediacom late yesterday with an agreement that returned Media General stations to Mediacom systems in 14 markets. “We are pleased that Mediacom recognized the essential value of our top-rated programming, including local news, weather, sports, entertainment and other unique content, ” Media General said in a statement. “We regret the temporary disruption in service.”

Soon after the FCC approved the AT&T-DirecTV merger, AT&T and Starz reached a new deal for the distribution of such popular shows as Outlander and Power.

The station owner extends the deadline, citing “substantial progress” in talks with the satellite carrier.

Owner Dispatch Broadcast Group and the satellite carrier reach a multi-year deal.

The Graham Media-owned stations have issued press releases saying they are scheduled to be pulled from the satellite service on July 22 unless a carriage deal can be reached.

When the retransmission consent issue heats up in Washington, there is almost always a political poster child. This time, it’s the fee dispute between Media General and Mediacom Communications, that resulted in a blackout Tuesday of TV stations in 14 markets. The standoff comes just as the FCC prepares to open up a congressionally mandated proceeding to review what negotiating in “good faith” means.

Broadcasters warned the FCC that retransmission consent reform advocates are “manufacturing” disputes to “spur the government to regulate more heavily.” Meeting with FCC officials last week, executives from the NAB argued that nearly all retransmission consent agreements are signed without any interruption to consumers’ service.

Cable operator Mediacom Communications files a rulemaking petition at the FCC that would ban stations from pulling their signals from MVPDs after expiration of a retrans license if the stations isn’t available over the air or by streaming to 90% of its market.

SNL Kagan updated retransmission fee projections see a 63% increase from $6.3 billion this year while reverse comp payments to networks could increase from $1.65 billion in 2015 to $3.69 billion in 2021.

CBS Corp. has struck a carriage agreement with AT&T’s U-verse service that covers all of the company’s broadcast and cable TV outlets, including distribution of cabler Pop for the first time.

SNL Kagan researchers and broadcasters at the SNL Kagan conference in New York agreed that retrans revenue — projected at $6.3 billion this year and $7.2 billion next year — will continue to grow at least through 2021.

NAB President Gordon Smith spells out the advantages of adopting the new next-generation TV transmission standard, but says his group must represent the wishes of “a majority our members.” And those members are divided. Talking to the New York State Broadcasters Association, Smith also addresses the spectrum auction and repack as well as efforts by cable and satellite to get retrans reform.

The broadcaster asks the FCC for ’emeregency” relief, claiming the satellite provider is not negotiating in good faith over a new distribution contract.

Mediacom Communications announced Thursday that it reached a carriage agreement with Granite Broadcasting Corp. covering KBJR Duluth, Minn.; WISE Fort Wayne, Ind.; and WEEK Peoria, Ill. The Granite stations, which went dark on Mediacom systems on June 1, will be immediately reinstated on the Mediacom channel lineup in the markets where Granite operates the primary network affiliate. “We thank our customers for their patience and continued loyalty as we worked to reach a new contract with Granite Broadcasting,” said Ed Pardini, Mediacom’s SVP of field operations.

Dispatch Broadcast Group’s NBC affil WTHR Indianapolis and CBS affil WBNS Columbus, Ohio, have posted alerts at their websites saying their current carriage deal with Dish expires on Monday, June 15, at 2 p.m. ET, and they “continue to work toward an agreement with Dish and hope to resolve this situation as soon as possible.”

KBJR (NBC-MNT) Duluth, Minn.; WISE (NBC-MNT) Fort Wayne, Ind.; and WEEK (NBC) Peoria, Ill., go dark on Mediacom systems after a retrans contract expired with no new deal in place.

It may seem like there’s a simple process of determining receivables from multichannel providers. But funny things can happen on the way to revenue recognition. Here are tips on dealing with some common challenges.

Digital is a tough racket in any of its many manifestations — websites, apps, streaming, marketing services. But that’s where the real upside for broadcasting is, not in spot or retrans. Station groups have got to keep experimenting with digital, keep investing in it, keep trying to get a foothold.

Atlantic Broadband, the local cable provider serving viewers in Talbot, Queen Anne’s and Kent counties in Maryland, has returned CBS affiliate WBOC Salisbury, Md., TV to its channel lineup after reaching a long-term retrans agreement. The station has been off the cable system since late December.

This announcement appeared on the Cox Communications website Sunday: “Cox Communications has reached an agreement with Gray Television.  Gray programming will be returned to the Cox lineup in all the communities we serve that have local Gray TV stations. We appreciate our customers’ patience and support as we sought to reach an agreement.”

Sen. Steve Daines on Saturday announced that DirecTV and television station owner Cordillera Communications have reached an agreement to restore CBS programs and end a 10-day blackout of the network across much of Montana.

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) is asking DirecTV and Cordillera Communications, the owner of Montana’s CBS affiliates to get the network back on satellite after a weeklong absence. Daines is weighing in two days before CBS broadcasts Sunday’s NFL playoff game between the Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts. DirecTV would like Cordillera’s permission to carry the game, and only the game, under the terms of its old contract as negotiations continue.

Gray Television’s NBC affiliate WOWT Omaha, Neb., went off the air Wednesday on the Cox cable system.The two parties were unable to reach a new retrans agreement by a midnight Tuesday deadline and Cox dropped the station from its television lineup Wednesday, said Vic Richards, WOWT VP-GM. The negotiations are continuing, said Beth Weiss, senior manager of public affairs for Cox Communications’ central region, which includes Nebraska and Iowa.

Capitol Broadcasting’s Raleigh, N.C. duopoly of WRAL (CBS) and WRAZ (Fox) are once again available to Dish Network subscribers. The blackout of the two stations, which began Dec. 22, ended at 9 p.m. Tuesday, according to Steven Hammel, the stations’ general manager.

With no new retransmission consent deal in place by deadline, Cox Communications subscribers today lost Gray Television’s WOWT Omaha, Neb. (NBC); KAKE Wichita, Kan. (ABC); and WIBW Topeka, Kan. (CBS).

The dominant cable provider in the Fargo-Moorhead, N.D., market reached a new carriage deal for Gray Television’s NBC and CBS affiliates almost 24 hours after the 5 p.m. Friday deadline. The original deadline was midnight New Year’s Eve.