Ailes To Cablers: You’ve Had “Pretty Much A Free Ride For The Last Five Years”

FNC’s fight for a higher subscriber fees moved to the Associated Press today.

“Fox says the systems pay roughly 25 cents per subscriber each month to carry its programming. Given the network’s success in the ratings, Fox is asking that these fees jump to $1,” David Bauder writes. “Fox claims its rival CNN frequently gets around 50 cents per subscriber, and that Fox’s fee is a bargain since Fox’s ratings have eclipsed CNN’s for five years.”

Here’s what Roger Ailes says: “It seems like we’re probably worth at least twice as much as they are. In the real world, everything is a negotiation and we’re not being dogmatic about it. But we are being dogmatic about the fact that we’re worth a hell of a lot more than we were 10 years ago when we took very low rates just to get coverage. They had pretty much a free ride for the last five years.” Here’s the rest…