NBC Boston info

[Garrett Wollman]

<<On Sun, 6 Nov 2016 14:22:45 -0500, Sean Smyth <ssmyth@alumni.psu.edu> said:

> NBC did it c. 2001 in the Bay Area. That was when steaming was a
> nonentity. I can't remember if NBC or the new owners of KRON pulled the
> plug on the affiliation, though.

That was the all about NBC trying to reverse the cash flow.  Up to
that point, affiliates received cash compensation from the network for
carriage of network shows, in addition to local spot avails during the
network hours.  When KRON's affiliation came up for renewal, NBC
demanded that the station pay for the programming rather than the
other way around.  Both sides stuck by their guns, and KNTV (an ABC
affiliate whose analog signal was then on Loma Prieta, half way
between San Jose and Santa Cruz) agreed to pay what NBC was demanding.
KNTV got the affiliation and was eventually sold to NBC, and that
changed the structure of affiliation deals throughout the industry.

That was what drove the huge increase in retransmission fees charged
by local stations to cable and satellite subscribers -- most of the
money goes right out the door to pay for the network affiliation.

-GAWollman