The National Association of Broadcasters is highlighting Time Warner Cable's 44% jump in net profit as an example of how retrans fees aren't hurting the cable operator quite as badly as claimed. 2011 saw broadcasters and cable operators annoy consumers endlessly with blackouts, PR feuds, and higher rates, with cable operators often claiming demanded rate hikes were borderline gluttonous. A NAB press statement however argues that retransmission consent fees accounted for just six-tenths of one percent of a pay-TV operator's revenues in 2010. Says NAB:
"Given that Time Warner Cable just announced a quarterly net income increase of 44 percent and annual profits of $1.3 billion, it's time for pay TV's poster child for skyrocketing rates to come clean on retransmission consent. Time Warner and its front group the American Television Alliance claim that broadcast retransmission consent fees are responsible for escalating cable rates. That claim is false. The fact is that local TV station carriage fees account for less than 1 percent of the cost of a monthly cable bill.
...it's laughable to suggest that broadcasters are responsible for higher cable rates.
At this point consumers don't really care, nor do they particularly like either side in these debates. In the end, most consumers know their cable bill will keep going up regardless of who "wins" these increasingly-ugly retrans disputes. Why? Because the cable and broadcast industry absolutely refuse to seriously compete on price, must get improved quarterly results however possible, and as a result would blame rate hikes on Uruguayan Ocelots if they could get away with it.
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