ITV share price: Broadcaster calls for retransmission payments

ITV Plc (LON:ITV) has renewed its calls for British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc (LON:BSY), Virgin Media and other major pay-TV broadcasters to pay UK public service broadcasters (PSBs) fairly for the transmission of their channels.

The broadcaster cited a recent report by NERA Economic Consulting showing that this type of payment model, known as retransmission payments, has contributed significantly to the new “golden age of television” in North America.

In today’s trading, ITV shares were down 1.1 percent at 217.90p, as of 15:37 BST. The company’s stock has risen 12.4 percent since the start of the year.

Retransmission fees

Under the “retransmission consent scheme” as introduced in the US in 1992, free-to-air broadcasters are paid for delivering content to competing platforms. ITV pointed out that, according to the report, last year US broadcasters received around $3.3 billion in retransmission payments, amounting to less than three percent of cable operators’ revenues. The company argued that the model should be adopted in the UK.

ITV’s chief executive officer Adam Crozier commented that the introduction of retransmission fees in the UK “would have clear benefits to the UK creative industries and the wider economy - as well as to viewers right across the UK - by enabling PSBs to continue to invest in the original programming people love to watch”.

Crozier added:

ITV also noted that UK PSBs invest around £3 billion in programming, with ITV alone spending almost £1billion a year.