Retrans Wait

When someone mentioned Les Moonves’ suggestion that CBS should command retrans fees in line with USA Network, Brian Roberts played it cool. "What do you want me to do-slam them really hard or just be really nice?" "It’s going to be a judgment by the American public, whether the days of free television are over. … We’ll just have to see what the future brings," he said at a Goldman Sachs conference. He added that Comcast has "very long" agreements in place with programmers (of course, it probably also helps to be the 800- lb gorilla on the block…). In a Q&A session, Roberts talked up Comcast’s "Enhanced Basic" service, which delivers an all-digital signal and some VOD and digital music content to subs who don’t want the full digital package. The MSO has 500K low-cost (less than $70) digital boxes in-house to roll out to Enhanced Basic customers, whose numbers should rise as 50% of the MSO’S footprint is already digital simulcasting. Roberts doesn’t see a lot of opportunity for Comcast on the acquisition front, so the company is focusing on internal growth, stock buybacks and innovation, he said. — CableWORLD’s Mavis Scanlon