Retransmission fees being discussed in UK

[osu1991]

ITV Renews Call for U.S.-Style Retrans Payments in U.K.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/itv-renews-call-us-style-730965

U.K. TV giant ITV on Monday renewed its call for retransmission fee payments from such pay TV giants as BSkyB and Virgin Media.

"ITV has today called for major pay-TV platforms to pay U.K. public service broadcasters fairly for the transmission of their channels, ending what is effectively a multi-million pound subsidy to Sky and Virgin," the company, home of Downton Abbey, said.

 

[DJdish]

ITV pushes for Sky, Virgin to pay for its channels
This article reports:

"Free-to-air commercial broadcaster ITV wants to charge pay-TV rivals such as BSkyB and Virgin Media to carry its channels, saying such a move would give it more money to make programmes.

ITV, along with rival public service broadcasters (PSBs) BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5, previously paid satellite broadcaster BSkyB to carry its channels. PSBs receive prime position in the pay-TV companies' electronic programme guides, used by about half of Britain's households to plan viewing.

The government said last year it wanted the charges scrapped and BSkyB has reached agreement with ITV to drop them. But ITV, the broadcaster of soap opera "Coronation Street" and talent show "the X Factor", now wants the government to go further and let it charge the pay-TV platforms to retransmit its content.

ITV Chief Executive Adam Crozier said in a statement on Monday that introducing retransmission fees would have clear benefits for British creative industries, citing a "golden age" in U.S. television funded in part by retransmission fees."

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/09/08/uk-itv-retransmission-idUKKBN0H31VK20140908