Disney, Fox, Time Warner Will Win, With or Without Net Neutrality

[Commentary] The topic of the day is Network Neutrality. But in the world of Big Media, it may not amount to more than footnote in the quarterly earnings report. The fact is, Big Media had a great first quarter for 2014.

Time Warner, owner of HBO and the studio behind The Lego Movie, beat the estimates of Wall Street analysts for operations in the first three months of the year, and raised its full-year guidance after getting more money than expected in re-transmission fees from Comcast, the country's largest cable TV operator.

Time Warner, Disney, Fox, Viacom and CBS would likely negotiate any new broadband connectivity charges with existing retranmission contracts by which pay-TV operators pay them for their content.

The cost to Big Media may be negligible. Regardless of how net neutrality plays out, Big Media has never been healthier or more in control of its business model. Advertising may be cyclical but the pay-TV bundle is alive and well, providing consistently higher re-transmission fees.