CBS Corp.'s revenue from broadcast retransmission licensing and reverse compensation spiked 44 percent in the second quarter, and the company now expects these revenue sources to yield more than a $1 billion by the time the year is over.
Driven by these sources, CBS posted a 2 percent revenue gain to $3.29 billion in the second quarter — a notable achievement, given that the second quarter of 2015 included the highly profitable Floyd Mayweather/Manny Pacquiao pay-per-view boxing event on CBS' Showtime network, as well as CBS' coverage of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
CBS' report of yet more steep growth for broadcast retransmission came just a few days after NBCUniversal reported its own 64 percent uptick in retrans and reverse-compensation fees.
For its part, CBS expects these revenue streams to keep right on growing.
"Next year, we'll have 14 percent of our reverse comp and 24 percent of our retrans footprint coming up for renewal, giving us the opportunity to reset those deals to current fair market value," said CBS COO Joe Ianniello.
SNL Kagan recently revised its longterm projection for total retrans revenue growth — the research firm now projects the total nut to rise to $10.6 billion by 2020.
The FCC recently decided not to move forward on a proposal to revise regulations governing broadcast retransmission negotiations.
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