US TV Station Retransmission Fees Now Expected to Reach $10.3 Billion by 2021

SNL Kagan now expects US TV station owners’ retransmission fee totals to reach $10.3 billion by 2021, versus the projected $6.3 billion in 2015. The company also updated its retransmission revenue number for 2020, up $500 million more than its prior projection of $9.3 billion in 2014, to $9.8 billion.

The revised numbers are partially due to strong advances made at the end of 2014, thanks to renewals and annual step-ups in existing contracts. While the station owners have been successful at securing rising rates, broadcast networks have also been able to extract some rising fees of their own — growing up to 60 percent from the prior 42 percent range. SNL Kagan now projects the funds flowing from the affiliate and Owned & Operation stations back to their network partners could increase from $1.65 billion in 2015 to $3.69 billion in 2021.