The Indy Show closed with a panel that included chilling stats on how much the escalating programming costs have hit home for small operators. Cable One vp, strategic marketing Jerry McKenna said retrans fees alone will account for 9% of his programming costs in ’12, but he said retrans is just the battle; the war is overall rising license fees. The issue, however, is that many cable nets have developed strong brands and immense viewer loyalty. He noted “a change in the air” marked by recent programming disputes “that normally we wouldn’t have seen in the past,” including the DirecTV-Viacom, DISH-AMC Nets and Time Warner Cable-Hearst fights.
