Media & Entertainment - Operations and Strategy
| UPDATE 2: Retrans battle to play out within 3 years for News Corp. |  |
November 04, 2009 6:04 PM ET
By Sarah Barry James
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The fight between News Corp. and pay-TV operators that is simmering beneath the surface stands to fully erupt within the next two to three years. News Corp. President and COO Chase Carey said during a Nov. 4 earnings conference call that the majority of the company's direct relationships with distributors for News Corp.'s owned-and-operated stations will expire within the next two to three years. "There's also a dimension to this that is dealing with our affiliates where there is retransmission that deals with the value of the network programming we provide there," Carey added. "So really there are two dynamics, two dimensions to this. But the majority of this will come up ... in the two- to three-year time frame." He continued, "It's tough to compete with the cable channel business model of dual-revenue streams without having one in broadcasting." Carey would not elaborate on what kind of retransmission fees News Corp. would push for in its negotiations. The executive did say, however, that higher fees from distributors and possibly affiliates were only one piece of the puzzle to reinvigorating the broadcast industry. "There's a lot of things we need to do there," he said. "It's not just simply a fight for retransmission." | 
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