Kagan Analyst: Sports Costs Not Only Reason for Burgeoning Bills

SNL Kagan analyst Derek Baine argued that sports costs are not the only reason for rising cable bills. Baine predicts that by 2018, retransmission payments cable operators pay to carry local TV stations will have ballooned to almost $5 per sub per month, or about what they pay now for ESPN, the poster-channel for escalating sports rights costs. The average cost of a sports channel over the last decade has increased at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR)of 3.5%, he says, compared to 2.9% for all channels. CAGR is actually smaller than the average over the past five years, however, due to the launch of lower-priced channels like the NHL Network.