Satcasters pan plan for retrans fee hike
The Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel recommended that satellite companies such as DirecTV and Primestar pay higher fees for retransmission of distant network affiliate signals from the current 6¢ to 27¢ per subscriber per month.
The fees for retransmitting superstations, such as Tribune's WGN, and distant indie station signals also will increase: from 17.5¢ now to 27¢ under the plan. If approved, the rates will remain in place until 1999.
Sat TV providers are supposed to provide broadcast signals only to subscribers in rural and other areas that cannot receive broadcast TV. But broadcasters claim in pending lawsuits that some sat TV providers routinely skirt the rules, making out-of-market stations available to subscribers that are able to receive broadcast TV.
The hike would mean that sat company fees would add up to one-half of the total royalty pool even though they control only one-tenth of all pay TV subscribers, according to Satellite Broadcasting & Communications Assn. president Chuck Hewitt. Hewitt called the decision "outrageous."
SBCA also pointed out the disparity between the rates they pay and the rates cable operators pay for such programming. Cable operators, according to SBCA, are paying just under 10¢ for superstations and just under 3¢ for network programming. The satellite lobbying group said it would ask Congress to "rectify this gross aberration in copyright rates."
Jack Valenti, president and CEO of the Motion Picture Assn. of America, released a statement praising the ruling.
**contributor:Cynthia Littleton and Bloomberg News
