Broadcast Networks to Affiliates: Give Us More Retrans Money Or We’re Dumping You!

More Evidence of a Broken, Outdated System That Does Not Serve Viewers

WASHINGTON, D.C. May 13, 2011 – First the broadcast networks black out viewers on their owned stations as a negotiating ploy in retransmission consent negotiations with pay TV providers. Now they are bullying their affiliates by withholding programming if the affiliate doesn’t pay up more of their retrans revenue, as Fox recently did in Evansville, Indiana. Dumping affiliates is the latest example of why the retransmission consent system must be reformed.