TVNewsCheck
Belo Corp. CEO Dunia Shive says that the publicly traded TV station group is being squeezed by ABC in affiliation renewal negotiations for a share of its growing pot of retransmission consent dollars.
Call it reverse compensation or retrans sharing, Shive said during the company’s third-quarter conference call with securities analysts. “It’s really a mechanism for having the affiliates share in the cost of programming.”
Belo operates four ABC affiliates, including its flagship station in Dallas-Fort Worth (DMA 5), WFAA.
All the networks have been eyeing their affiliates’ retransmission consent revenue as it has grown sharply over the past three or four years.
The revenue comes from cable and satellite operators in exchange for broadcasters’ permission to carry or retransmit TV station signals. More…