U.S. Broadcast Retrans Fees to Reach $6 Billion by 2018

MONTEREY: TV station owners’ retransmission fee revenues could reach $5.5 billion by 2017 and surpass $6 billion by 2018, according to revised figures from SNL Kagan.

This compares to the $2.36 billion forecast for this year. Previously, SNL Kagan had forecast that retrans fees would reach $4.86 billion by 2017. The revised projections are due in part from the success of a wider range of TV station owners securing higher retrans frees from multichannel operators from negotiated deals over the last year.

SNL Kagan predicts that by 2018, the average fee paid per TV station will be a little less than $1. Each multichannel subscriber will be responsible for aggregate retrans fee revenue of $4.86 per subscriber per month. For the five major broadcast networks combined, multichannel providers are expected to pay $3.49 per month in 2015.