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.

Also in the July 26 issue of CableFAX Daily:

A Netflix/HBO partnership isn’t likely, at least not in the near-term.

Style Media picked up off-net rights to “Gossip girl” from Warner Bros and will start airing it Aug 15 at 8pm.

July has been smoking hot, especially for Food Network. Read more in this issue’s ratings section.

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Tuesday–January 6

Cable One Acquires Mega Broadband

Cable One, which currently owns a 45% stake in Mega Broadband Investments Holdings (MBI), entered a definitive agreement to acquire the remaining 55% stake in the ISP, which operates as Vyve Broadband.

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