Broadcast dispute could lead to higher cable fees

BROADCAST DISPUTE COULD LEAD TO HIGHER CABLE FEES
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: David Lieberman]
A battle is underway which, no matter how it's resolved, could set a precedent affecting nearly all cable subscribers. Sinclair Broadcast Group over the weekend yanked 22 of its TV stations off Mediacom Communications cable systems that reach 700,000 subscribers. If the standoff continues, those cable customers could miss network TV shows including American Idol, CSI and Desperate Housewives while the companies squabble about how much cash cable systems should pay to retransmit a station's free over-the-air signals. After years of getting no cash, Sinclair is asking for "no more than 50 cents" per subscriber a month for each station Mediacom carries on cable in a market, says Sinclair general counsel Barry Faber. That's about what many operators pay for CNN and USA Network. "If you ask people, 'What do you think they pay more for: your Fox station or Animal Planet?' — I've never heard anybody say Animal Planet," Faber says. But Mediacom says that Sinclair is playing economic hardball to set benchmarks for station compensation that, if applied throughout the cable industry, could raise cable prices by up to $6 billion a year.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20070108/1b_blackout08.art.htm