Nexstar, Hearst-Argyle Hit Jackpot With Retrans Agreements

Source: Cynthia Turner Cynopsis After a tough year, Nexstar Broadcasting Group has won its battle to receive retransmission consent deals from 145 different cable operators, and to the tune of $40 million over the next 3-5 years, the majority in cash, according to Multichannel News. Nexstar went looking for retrans money last year and the results initially pushed the stations off Cox and Cable One systems in four markets for nearly a full year. That resulted in the loss of 75,000 cable subs, and as you might imagine, a fair amount off the Nexstar bottom line. With the four new deals in place, Nexstar has another 10 systems it is currently negotiating with, tho no info how those talks are progressing.

Also chiming in with its own retrans deals is the Hearst-Argyle group, reportedly being paid approx $11 million for its new deals with Echostar. Hearst-Argyle also owns Lifetime Television, and the cost of its retrans deal with Echostar, which this time around did not include Lifetime as part of the package, left the cable network off the system following its own dispute with Echostar over license fees.