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News Corp. reports 100% increase in retransmission-consent fees

February 9, 2012 — 12:27pm ET | By Steve Donohue

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News Corp. (Nasdaq: NWSA) saw a 100 percent jump in the retransmission-consent fees it collects from cable and satellite affiliates that carry its TV stations during its second fiscal quarter for 2012.

The media giant said Wednesday that its television segment, which includes its Fox broadcast network and TV stations, generated $189 million in operating income during the quarter, up 38 million, or 25 percent, compared to this time last year. The hike in retransmission-consent fees helped it offset increased costs at Fox for Major League Baseball rights, along with decreased political ad revenue at its TV stations.

COO Chase Carey wouldn't detail the per-subscriber fee Fox is demanding affiliates pay to deliver its stations to subscribers. "I will say we're on target with what we set out to do," he told analyst on the company's earnings call.

News Corp. staged a very public dispute with top satellite provider DirecTV (Nasdaq: DTV) last fall. While that battle focused initially on the license fees Fox wanted DirecTV to pay for its national cable networks and regional sports channels, the companies signed an agreement in October that included retransmission-consent for Fox owned-and-operated TV stations.

News Corp.'s cable network programming unit, which includes FX, National Geographic Channel, Fox News Channel and regional sports networks, generated $882 million in operating income during the quarter, up $147 million, or 20 percent, compared to the same period last year. The company attributed the gains to reduced rights fees at its regional sports networks resulting from the NBA lockout, along with the performance of Fox News Channel, which completed its 10^th consecutive year as the top-rated news network.

For more:
- see the earnings release

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