Is the Future of Hispanic Broadcast Television Up in the Air?

[Commentary] Hispanics are among the most enthusiastic consumers of information, news and entertainment in the United States today. They value reliability, accuracy and most importantly, access. To many of these families the high cost of monthly basic cable and satellite TV packages are beyond their means. As a result, they turn to broadcast television for their favorite shows, community news and critical updates during emergencies.

In fact, 51 percent of the 59.7 million of Americans who rely on free, over-the-air broadcast TV live in homes where Spanish is the language of choice. There is no question that the 43 percent demographic growth in the US Latino population during the past decade has greatly influenced consumer preferences and trends in the video marketplace. Preserving access to this content on the public airwaves and ensuring a system that continues to invest in this type of programming well into the future is critical to the Hispanic community. But in the debate over retransmission fees between cable providers and broadcast networks, the important voice of the Latino consumer has been lost. In the end, big cable and satellite TV providers don't care if some American consumers can't afford to pay for their service, they'll bank on future price hikes that gouge their current customers and increase their record profits at the expense of US consumer and local broadcast TV stations. If big pay-TV succeeds in effectively killing the vital retransmission fees that broadcasters rely on to provide quality local programming, we risk losing our Hispanic broadcasters and the valuable and important local programming they provide to tens of millions of Hispanic TV viewers throughout America.

[Gus is Board Chair and President, The Hispanic Institute]