Americans can look forward to additional rate increases in their monthly cable bills on top of the usual annual rate increases already underway as broadcast stations demand, and get, cash in return for cable carriage.

Just a few days after Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks concluded their precedent-setting agreement in principle with News Corporation’s Fox network, other networks and television stations owners are lining up to get their piece of the action.

The cable operators’ agreement to pay an estimated 50-60 cents per month per subscriber for the right to put Fox-owned local broadcast stations on the cable dial will likely be used as the starting point for negotiations between other cable operators like Comcast, Cox, Cablevision, and Charter when their agreements with stations and broadcast networks come up for renewal.  If every major broadcast network and station owner gets the same 50-60 cents per month, or more, those costs will certainly be passed on to subscribers.  That’s just the beginning says David Joyce, media analyst for Miller Tabak , a Wall Street trading firm.  Joyce believes annual increases demanded by networks could easily be in the 7-8 percent range.  Bloomberg News predicts that could add up to more than $5 billion dollars a year.

Bloomberg News interviews David Joyce, a media analyst who predicts annual 7-8% increases for retransmission consent. (3 minutes)

Sinclair owns stations in these communities

There is nothing new about these kinds of disputes — just the sums involved.

Sinclair Broadcast Group owns television stations serving nearly 22% of the United States (mostly Fox affiliates), and has contentious negotiations for retransmission consent agreements with Mediacom, a cable operator serving mostly smaller cities in the midwest and south.

The two companies just agreed to an eight day extension of their negotiations over a new agreement to replace the one that expired December 31st.

“We just decided we wanted to avoid, with such important events coming up, the disruption that it would cause customers,” Sinclair General Counsel Barry Faber said. “I don’t expect there will be a further extension. We recognize we’re giving up, perhaps, a small amount of (negotiating) leverage, but we don’t think it’s very much. Our channels are worth so much more than we are asking for.”

Sinclair has been willing to force its stations off Mediacom cable systems in the past to prove its point.  But another experience with angry sports fans upset over the interruption of Fox programming was apparently sufficient to give negotiations another week.

Bloomberg News explains how Rupert Murdoch bullied his way into an agreement with Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks that could change the landscape of broadcast television forever.  (4 minutes)

http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Bloomberg Sports a Major Factor of Cable Dispute 1-4-10.flv

The ‘Holy Grail’ of cable programming essentially boils down to silly ball games.  Sports programming is one of cable’s biggest expenses, yet few would dare to alienate sports fans, as this Bloomberg report explores.  (2 minutes)

One way or another consumers will pay more for their Mediacom cable service in 2010.  The undecided question is will Sinclair-owned television stations get a chunk of your wallet or will Mediacom keep it all for themselves.

Weary Mediacom customers have been through this battle before.  For the second time in three years, residents of Des Moines, Iowa face the prospect of losing access to their local Fox station, owned by Sinclair.

The ads are up and running.

Mediacom is running this spot, customized for each city impacted by the dispute, comparing Sinclair’s demands as another “bailout.”  This one is running in the Pensacola-Mobile market, where station WEAR is threatened with removal from Mediacom’s lineup.

Sinclair is demanding another price increase from the cable operator and Mediacom has a history of playing hardball and refusing to pay.  If the two sides don’t reach agreement by December 31st, 22 Sinclair-owned stations in communities served by Mediacom will be taken off the cable lineup.

Viewers aren’t happy, especially because they do not get a reduced bill from the cable company for the reduced channel lineup that results.

Both sides are waging campaigns to try and get viewers into the fight.  But in the end, it’s a battle of two corporate titans fighting over their portion of your money.

http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KCCI Des Moines Mediacom Sinclair Exchange Strong Words 1-23-07.flv

Back in January, 2007 Mediacom customers spent five weeks without Sinclair-owned television stations on their cable dial.  A nasty exchange between Sinclair and Mediacom was documented in this report aired by KCCI-TV Des Moines back on January 23, 2007.   (3 minutes)

http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KCCI Des Moines Mediacom Loses Customers 5-4-07.flv

The fallout from the 2007 dispute could be measured by disgusted customers who fled Mediacom for other providers, as KCCI found on May 4, 2007. (2 minutes)

http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WHO Des Moines Sinclair vs Mediacom 12-15-09.flv

WHO-TV Des Moines covers today’s dispute impacting Mediacom and the city’s Fox affiliate. (2 minutes)

http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KDSM Des Moines Mediacom vs Sinclair 12-17-09.flv

KDSM-TV Des Moines is the Sinclair-owned Fox affiliate.  The station covers its own dilemma, warning viewers they might lose the station for the second time in three years.  (3 minutes)

http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KFXA Cedar Rapids Mediacom Sinclair Dispute in Iowa 12-17-09.flv

In Cedar Rapids, Sinclair’s KFXA-TV covers the dispute with a decidedly pro-Sinclair point of view. (3 minutes)

http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WEAR Pensacola Sinclair Mediacom Dispute 12-16-09.flv

WEAR-TV in Pensacola, Florida spends a great deal less “news time” covering the dispute. WEAR is the Sinclair-owned ABC affiliate for the Florida Panhandle. (30 seconds)