Alliance Communications is negotiating new contracts with several local broadcast channels. Our existing retransmission consent agreements with the local NBC, ABC and CBS affiliates are set to expire soon.
On your monthly cable TV bill, the total retransmission fee for local broadcast channels is now more than $20/month. If history repeats itself, these channels will likely ask for an increase of 100%-200%.
Last year alone, Alliance customers paid more than $1.4 million in retransmission fees to local broadcasters to rebroadcast their free over-the-air channels on our network. Alliance does not keep any money from these retransmission fees. The fees are a direct pass through from your pocket to the broadcasters.
Unfortunately, broadcasters won’t allow you to pick and choose which channels you want in your personal cable TV lineup. They require you to buy their entire channel package, which includes their main channels along with their lesser known add-on channels.
Alliance wants to keep your retransmission fee as low as possible, but that may require some hard decisions when negotiating with your local broadcast station owners.
Your opinion matters, so please take our survey. We want to know how important these channels are to you because we are a customer-owned communications cooperative. Your feedback will provide valuable information that we will use when discussing new contracts on your behalf.
To take the survey, click on the link below that describes where you live.