NAB's Smith: TV Station Value Is Tied to Retransmission

National Association of Broadcasters president Gordon Smith plans to tell his former Senate Commerce Committee colleagues that local TV has "immense value," a value tied to their ability to negotiate "fair value" for their signals via retransmission consent.

Smith says that broadcasting continues to be the "go to choice for news, emergency service and entertainment." He points out that while broadcast TV accounts or 35% of all viewership, they only get 6.7% of carriage fees. He said that latter percentage is projected for "slow growth." He says the fact that the Cable Act is 20 years old does not by itself justify change. "When some focus only on 1992, we should also remember that for many years carriers refused to pay cash to local broadcasters. The simple fact that the nature of the compensation for retransmission consent has changed does not demonstrate a problem."