Local Broadcasters Bullish at SNL Kagan Conference

Local broadcasters are clearly enjoying station television's economic rebound. SNL Kagan forecasted that 2010 broadcast retransmission consent revenue would be $1.09 billion -- well ahead of 2009's $762 million.

The $1.36 billion forecasted for 2011 had them even more optimistic. Retransmission dominated much of the morning discussions. CBS Executive VP and CFO Joseph Ianniello discussed CBS's increasingly vigorous retransmission gameplan in his opening keynote at the Millennium Hotel, including pushing for half of affiliates' retrans earnings. Asked about bypassing the affiliates altogether and going straight to the cable, satellite and telecom TV operators, he said the network has no interest in cutting out its local partners. "We're not looking to shrink the ad pie," he said. SNL Kagan research showed that CBS will tally around $100 million in retrans in 2010. Its 209% retrans increase from 2008 to 2009 was well above the industry average.