Retransmission Consent and Channel Sharing

[Peter Parker]

There is some talk in the DC area about Verizon dropping the current Unimas affiliate (WFDC) in a dispute over retransmission fees. The mailbag of dcrtv.com shows some speculation that the WFDC demand may be based in part on the fact that WDCW will channel share with them starting in February.

So how does this work? Would WDCW be negotiating its own deal or would WFDC as the owner of the signal be responsible for negotiation? is there even a standard rule/practice for this?

 

[navychop]

Velly Intellesting.

 

[Trip]

If there's a place to go for uninformed speculation, it's the DCRTV Mailbag. No disrespect intended to DCRTV Dave.

Each station maintains its own license and negotiates its own agreement. The channel share has nothing to do with it.

- Trip

 

[Peter Parker]

I suspected that was the answer but was unsure. it is also why I identified the source. I considered discussing how questionable the mailbag can be but since it soetimes contains good information I chose not to.

then agin we have seen some opinions or speculation passed off as fact on Satelliteguys and other forums as well so perhaps we should not attack the DCRTV mailbag.

 

[Peter Parker]

Just to confirm trip's comment I took a look at the actual Channel sharing application at the FCC LMS site. it specifically addresses retransmission rights and says that each license holder is still responsible for taking care of any retransmission deals.