CBS vs Time Warner Cable

Historically, the over the air broadcast networks won the right to negotiate for retransmission rights starting in the 1993 season. At the time, the major cable companies flat out refused to pay retransmission fees. Top 20 broadcast shows had ratings between 21.7 and 14.5 (16.9 average) so no network would risk losing viewers as it would effect advertising revenue. Networks would usually negotiate something related to cable networks (like ABC got the cable companies to accept ESPN2 for a fee in exchange for the right to rebroadcast ABC-TV).

For the TV season that just ended the top 20 broadcast shows had ratings between 7.9 and 3.4 (4.4 average). Movies, and News shows have very low ratings, and SITCOMS are no longer the dominant show on broadcast. Competition shows and reality pull some of the biggest ratings.

Since 2006 the networks have stopped settling for concessions on cable channels, and began outright demanding for cash for the right to retransmit shows,


The end result was an impasse in negotiations on the fees, resulting in a major cable company dropping the signal of the largest broadcast network. Showtime was cut in retaliation by TWC, and CBS blocked their website in response.

Now the last electric bill was $14.50 for the account, $30.50 per Megawatt hour for distribution, and $95 per mWh for generation.

So it seems to me that cable TV should finally give in and adopt a similar rate schedule. There should be a flat fee to cover the basic costs and the free channels that they are required to carry (CSPAN, NASA, PBS, and local independent stations that opt not to negotiate for fees). After that they can select a companies channels for the price the content generation company decides + a percentage. While it is unlikely you can select every channel, a company can group their channels together for one price. For example NBC Universal could group NBC, USA, SyFy, A&E, etc.