While over-the-top distribution and consolidation continue to roil the pay-TV industry, no issue concerns the American Cable Association more than fast-increasing broadcast retransmission fees. These payments from pay-TV operators to broadcast stations are increasing so fast, SNL Kagan had to revise a five-year projection, rendered just in October, upward by $400 million.
The research firm now projects total retrans to hit $9.8 billion by 2020.
As the FCC gets set to look at 23-year-old laws that govern the negotiations between broadcasters and operators, we caught up with a man on the front line of the discussion, ACA President and CEO Matthew Polka. He's our guest in @FierceCable's first Twitter chat on Thursday, August 13, at 2 p.m. ET.
You can follow the action via the #ACAMattPolka hashtag. To make the conversation interactive, I also invite you to join in and ask questions.
During the conversation, Matthew will discuss with FierceCable a number of the key initiatives the ACA is spearheading, looking at his take on not only retrans, but Title II Internet regulation, OTT, pending cable mega-mergers and more. Those of you who follow Polka at @MATTatACA know it will be a lively discussion.
We look forward to seeing you on the #ACAMattPolka Twitter chat. --Daniel