D.C. Memo: Big Four Affiliates Bash ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox Networks in Latest Eruption at the FCC
The 700 TV station affiliates say the Big Four broadcast networks are raising affiliation fees, shrinking exclusivity, and imposing 'take‑it‑or‑leave‑it' terms, draining resources from local stations
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Big 4: TV’s best drama isn’t on any broadcast channel. It’s playing out at the FCC, where lawyers for network affiliates say their relationship with ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox networks is unraveling after decades of unity. In June 22 comments with the FCC, the affiliates, some 700 local TV stations in all, warned they now face “a fundamentally different and uniquely destabilizing form of competition: Direct competition from their own broadcast television Networks and from the [direct to consumer] streaming platforms operated by those Networks’ parent companies.” They said rising affiliation fees, shrinking exclusivity and “take‑it‑or‑leave‑it” terms are draining resources from local stations and shifting value to national streaming platforms. “The Networks’ practices of negotiating nearly all deals in the virtual MVPD ecosystem results in Networks taking an unfair share of revenue from increasingly dominant linear television distribution platforms like Google’s YouTube TV and Disney’s Hulu + Live TV,” the affiliates said. (More after paywall)
