Burke: NBCU Moving to Close 'Monetization Gap'

While at cable ops, programming costs will accelerate in 2013

By Mike Farrell, Multichannel News -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/13/2013 11:15:01 AM

On the heels of its announcement that it would buy in the rest of the NBCUniversal it did not already own, networks chief Steve Burke told analysts Wednesday that affiliate fees and retrans charges will rise at the programmer.

On a conference call with analysts to discuss fourth quarter results, Burke said that one of the top priorities for his division -- which includes cable networks like USA Network, Bravo and Syfy as well as the NBC broadcast network and about 24 NBC and Telemundo broadcast stations -- is to close the "monetization gap" between affiliate fees and ad revenue at NBCU properties and their peers.

"Our affiliate fees are not what they should be, both in terms of the cable channels and retransmission consent" Burke said on the call. "On the advertising side, our CPMs are lower than some of the other people in the business who have lower ratings than we do. The broadcast business continues to seem like a big opportunity to us, whether it's the NBC network, our local stations or Telemundo. I think all three of those represent a big opportunity."

NBC has particularly lagged on the retransmission consent side, according to analysts who have said the stations only started asking for cash for retransmission consent in recent years. They agree that could be a growing source of revenue going forward.

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