In the news

Paramount Global, the storied media conglomerate, announced it will lay off 15% of its US staff and write down $6 billion in value of its cable television networks as it prepares to merge with Skydance Media. Paramount, said the writedown of its TV business “is primarily as a result of recent indicators in the linear affiliate marketplace, and the estimated total company market value indicated by the Skydance transactions.”

Why you can’t get ESPN, ABC, Disney on DirecTV
According to published reports, Disney pulled ABC, ESPN, Hulu after the two companies have been negotiating a new contract to keep Disney's content on DirecTV's satellite and streaming services, including U-Verse TV, as a five-year contract ended. Unable to reach a deal, Disney's content went dark on DirecTV, leaving more than 11 million pay-TV subscribers unable to watch ESPN and ESPN2 just as the college and pro football seasons get underway.

Like other broadcasters, TEGNA has taken an aggressive position in the amount charged to cable and satellite companies for its channels — something cable and satellite companies say are directly responsible for rising customer bills.

For years, we have seen the cost of TV going up, and two of the main causes of that are broadcast TV channels like ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC, along with RSNs. Now these companies want more money that will likely drive up the cost of cable TV.

The latest FCC report has found that the average subscriber pays more than $200 per year for so-called ‘free’ broadcast television, representing an increase of more than 20% over the previous year.

Already the largest U.S. local TV broadcaster, Nexstar uses sham ‘sidecars’ to further evade television ownership rules, colluding with Mission and White Knight, and overcharging consumers. 

Today, the American Television Alliance (ATVA) affirmed its support for efforts to combat abuse by big broadcast companies who fix and raise retransmission consent rates, leaving American consumers to potentially foot billions of dollars in unwarranted fees.

The reason so many channels are forced on consumers is simple—most cable networks are owned by the major media conglomerates who force cable and satellite operators to take their whole bundle of channels or get none at all. Anyone who wants to carry ESPN, for instance, must carry a broad swath of channels such as ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPNU and more obscure channels like Disney Junior, FreeForm and Nat Geo WILD.

Last year there we a number of carriage disputes between YouTube TV and several broadcasters. In September, the Google-owned streaming platform brawled with NBCUniversal, and it found itself in a spat with Disney a few month later. YouTube TV isn't the platform to butt heads with broadcasters. Roku, DirecTV, and just about every legacy cable company have found themselves in similar predicaments.

A dispute between satellite TV provider Dish and media company Tegna has resulted in the removal of TV stations in more than 50 U.S. markets. Tegna had begun alerting Dish subscribers earlier in the week they could lose access to local stations at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday because the two companies could not reach a new carriage agreement for its station.

Fox Networks Group threatened to black out 26 local broadcast stations across 16 major media markets as a bargaining ploy to increase its retransmission consent rates and other licensing fees.