Retransmission Consent

Cablevision Systems said Monday it has reached a comprehensive carriage agreement with NBCUniversal, including all the programming giant's cable channels and owned-and-operated television stations. Terms of the long-term deal were not disclosed.

According to Cablevision, the deal includes expansive rights to on-demand content from NBCUniversal’s portfolio of cable and broadcast networks, as well as access to live channels across multiple platforms both in and out of the home.

NBC Universal CEO Steve Burke said that about 25% of retransmission consent deals for its owned and operated stations come due by the end of this year, a possible opportunity to take advantage of the late ratings surge at the network.

Dish Network and Gannett Broadcasting managed to hammer out a retransmission-consent deal last week, despite the satellite-TV giant’s contention that the broadcaster was trying to squelch its controversial Auto Hop ad-skipping technology.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The agreement, reached a few hours after the formal midnight Oct. 7 deadline passed (both sides agreed to a brief extension as talks continued) kept Gannett stations in 19 markets, including Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; Denver; and Phoenix, Ariz., on Dish Network’s service.

CBS has reached a new distribution agreement with DirecTV.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the agreement was described as long-term and covering retransmission consent for the CBS owned stations, and continued carriage of Showtime, CBS Sports Network and Smithsonian Channel.

In a bit of a twist to the usual retransmission-consent battle rhetoric, Dish Network and Gannett Broadcasting appear to be sharpening their knives over an issue other than money: ad skipping.
Dish fired the first salvo on Friday, claiming that Gannett has threatened to pull its 19 broadcast stations from Dish subscribers on Oct. 7 if the satellite giant it does not succumb to its demands.