Retransmission consent had become such a testy issue that the FCC actually opened a proceeding on it, although in so doing Chairman Julius Genachowski expressed the thought that there didn’t seem to be a serious role for the Commission. But had the proceeding been contemplated right now, maybe it wouldn’t have happened, because in 2011, there just wasn’t very much retransmission drama.
In the past, broadcasters were charged with holding must-have programming hostage in order to force poor little national MVPDs into agreeing to their outrageous demands.
Broadcasters, on the other hand, protested that the demands weren’t outrageous at all and the MVPDs were forcing them to play the pull-the-programming card.
And if an MVPD is willing to call the programming must-have, why was the same MVPD unwilling to negotiate a fair price to get it?
If 2011 is any indication, both sides seem to have accepted retransmission as part of the business – but we’ll be watching during 2012 to see if we get more 2011 or revert to more contentious retransmission altercations.
At any rate, several new retransmission agreements have been struck to usher in the new year. Here, from a broadcast industry source, is a list of the done deals of recent vintage:
* Young Broadcasting, which owns 10 television stations, successfully concluded its retrans deals without going off cable or satellite…including deals with Mediacom and the DISH Network. In addition to KRON San Francisco, a news-heavy MyNetworkTV affiliate, Young’s other stations include WKRN Nashville, Tenn. (ABC, DMA 29); WRIC Richmond-Petersburg, Va. (ABC, DMA 57); WCDC Albany, N.Y. (ABC, DMA 58); WATE Knoxville, Tenn. (ABC, DMA 59); WBAY Green Bay, Wis. (ABC, DMA 71); KWQC Davenport, Iowa-Moline, Ill. (NBC, DMA 99); KPLO Sioux Falls, S.D. (CBS, DMA 112); WLNS Lansing, Mich. (CBS, DMA 115); KLFY Lafayette, La. (CBS, DMA 123); and KCLO Rapid City, S.D. (CBS, DMA 173).
* Allbritton-owned WJLA (ABC affiliate) successfully did its deal with Cox Cable in Fairfax County, VA.
* Missouri-based News Press-Gazette (which owns 7 network affiliated TV stations in Bend, OR; Colorado Springs; El Paso; Grand Junction, CO; Idaho Falls; Palm Springs, CA; and Yuma, AZ successfully did deals with AT&T, Cablevision, Bend Broadband (in Bend, Oregon), and Crestview Cable.
* Citadel Broadcasting (which owns 5 network affiliated TV stations in Davenport, Des Moines, Sioux City, Moline, IL and Lincoln, NE did deals successfully with Cox Cable, Viacom, Metrocast, and Cable One. * Cedar Rapids Television (KCRG-TV, Cedar Rapids) successfully did deals with some 30 small cable operators.
