HOW WILL BROADCASTERS SAVE LOCAL NEWS?

We are back at the well again.

The ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS television affiliate associations representing more than 600 stations across the country (read Sinclair, Nexstar, Gray, Tegna and others), have formed the Coalition For Local News, a rather unsubtly-named group whose aim is to protect the future of local news in America

How?

Just as broadcasters have become dependent on ever-increasing retransmission fees from cable and satellite providers, so they now propose to have Congress close “the streaming loophole” that allows streaming services to bypass the process by which cable and satellite providers are required to negotiate directly with local broadcasters for retransmission rights.

Thus, according to the group, local television stations “have lost control of their retransmission consent rights under current rules that cut them out of the negotiating process with streaming services. Without the ability to negotiate directly with streaming services, local broadcasters cannot obtain the compensation necessary for them to sustain their substantial investments in local news.”

Because retrans fees that have grown from $200 million in 2006 to $11.7 billion in 2019 – a 5,359 percent increase – aren’t enough for local broadcasters.

Local television is a mess – too many companies over-leveraged due to rapid expansion, a softened ad market and declining viewer number.

Today, they rely on retrans fees and political ad windfalls roughly every two years.

Those retrans demands have put cable and satellite providers in a bind resulting in a growing number of people cutting the cord.

If local broadcasters have their way, streaming services will eventually find themselves in the same bind.

What is the first thing that gets threatened when local broadcasters want more money?

News.

And what do local broadcasters use to fill the holes when they no longer want to pay for syndicated programming?

Yep…news.

Broadcasters need to step back, take a look at their business model and come up with something more creative than demanding the government force still another industry to give them money for a product that, quite frankly, does not have the same value it once did.

Yes, local news is pretty essential – if it is done the way news should be done.

But far too many local stations are putting on a cheap product and asking other businesses to carry their water.

Which ultimately means, you, the consumer will pay those increased fees – or cut the cord.