ITV demands retransmission fees from Pay-TV services

In a report published alongside Germany’s VPRT and Free TV Australia which demands an end of what is “effectively a multi-million pound subsidy” and says that retrans fees that have been brought in to N. America has significantly contributed to a ‘Golden-age of television.’

In 2013, US free-to-air broadcasters benefited from around $3.3 billion in fees from Pay-TV providers which was less than 3% of the operators revenues and ITV has said that their investment of £1bn into original production is justification enough for retransmission fees.

Chief executive Adam Crozier said the introduction of such fees would “have clear benefits for the UK creative industries and the wider economy”.

He added: “The majority of viewing on these pay-TV platforms is PSB programming, yet ITV, whether as producer or broadcaster investing in creating that content, doesn’t receive any payment—despite the fact that pay-TV platforms pay commercial terms for other channels.”

These comments aren’t dissimilar to David Abraham’s speech in Edinburgh last month where the C4 chief executive said that it was “bizarre that pay-TV platforms don’t pay for PSB’s programming, creating an undervalue of the UK creative economy.

When Crozier broached the subject of retransmission fees last month, pay-TV broadcasters Sky and Virgin said that any cost incurred by their companies would also be felt by UK customers.