The Economics of Retransmission Consent
45 Pages Posted: 28 Jun 2009
Date Written: March 31, 2009
Abstract
Congress created retransmission consent in 1992 to ensure that broadcasters would be able to negotiate in a free marketplace for fair compensation for their programming. Examining retransmission consent from an economic perspective, this study demonstrates that retransmission consent achieves Congress’ intended purpose of establishing a market based mechanism to ensure that broadcasters receive an economically efficient level of compensation for the value of their signals. This compensation ultimately benefits consumers by enriching the quantity, diversity, and quality of available programming, including local broadcast signals.
Keywords: retransmission consent, broadcasting, intellectual property
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