DISH CEO Says Retransmission Fees Have Peaked, Warns of ‘Unhealthy Place’ for Live TV Streamers (Apr. 2021)

“Our vendors are competing with us in linear TV, so that’s an unhealthy place.” That’s the assessment of DISH founder Charlie Ergen.

The Pay TV Model Is Declining. The N.F.L. Is Still Banking on It. (Mar. 2021)

In their agreements with the league, networks promoted their digital rights. But the structure of the deals allows consumers to watch most games without subscribing to a streaming service.

Broadcasters, cable providers face carriage deadlines as 2021 approaches (Dec. 2020)

As 2020 winds down, several TV station groups and distributors are nearing deadlines for retransmission-consent renewals.

Economics of Broadcast TV Retransmission Revenue 2020 (Aug. 2020)

Amid the COVID-19-induced recession fueling an ongoing trend in households dropping traditional multichannel video subscription in favor of cheaper virtual alternatives, we have revised down our projections covering U.S. TV station owners’ retrans fees from traditional and virtual multichannel service providers. Our projections now show retrans fees are expected to reach $12.17 billion in 2020, up just 2% from $11.89 billion in 2019.

Dispute With Dish Network Blacks Out Tegna Stations (Dec. 2018)

Tegna and Dish Network were unable to renew their retransmission consent agreement and the broadcaster’s 47 stations were blacked out to Dish’s subscribers.

TV Blackouts Will Only Get Worse (Nov. 2018)

Signal disruptions, or blackouts, spiked in the U.S. last year. They involved 29 TV stations and more than 200 markets were affected, according to the American Television Alliance.

Small cable companies want DOJ to reinvestigate Comcast’s merger with NBC (Nov. 2018)

The request to the Justice Department by Comcast’s rivals adds renewed pressure on the agency to revisit Comcast’s 2011 merger with NBC, a deal that critics said opened up numerous opportunities for anticompetitive misconduct.

Charter Will be Raising Rates on Spectrum TV, Internet Services in November (Oct. 2018)

Charter will raise the price of Spectrum TV and internet services in November. The increase “reflects costs incurred from local broadcast TV stations” as well as faster download speeds.

American TV Alliance Warns of Blackouts (Aug. 2018)

Football always seems to bring out the retrans fireworks, so much so that the American TV Alliance sent out a missive warning consumers of a potential #blackoutblitz timed to football kickoffs and MLB post-season play.

AT&T Drops beIn Sports From Channel Lineup (Aug. 2018)

AT&T’s DirecTV and DirecTV Now services have dropped beIN Sports from their channel lineups in a fee dispute. The blackout follows a similar move made by Comcast at the beginning of August. Verizon’s Fios also dropped beIN channels earlier this month.

After Profitable 2017, Altice USA hikes Optimum prices (May 2018)

Altice USA is hiking cable TV prices as of the June billing period, covering everything from installation fees it charges new customers to the surcharges it tacks on monthly for broadcast channels and other programming. … Altice USA representatives stated the changes reflect the rising cost of programming and the company’s ongoing investments.

Altrice USA Drops Starz from its Cable Systems (Jan. 2018)

Altice USA dropped pay premium service Starz from its Optimum cable systems over the weekend. The decision follows what the cable company called “numerous attempts” to secure a deal with the premium service, a division of Lionsgate.