Cable company carriage

[amanuensis]

Is dropping local stations something that cable companies can also do, or is the "must carry" rule still in effect? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Must-carry I seem to vaguely recall that local stations that want to be paid by the cable companies for retransmission don't have to be carried if the parties can't come to terms.

The ever-increasing fee that Comcast charged for the local stations is a major reason why we partially cut the cord. (We still get Internet from them.) Does Comcast still charge Utah customers a regional sports fee?

[CAwasinNJ]

Both must carry and retransmission consent are alive and well and not going anywhere. Must carry means that the cable/satellite/etc companies have to include those channels in their lineup but don't have to pay for them. Retransmission consent means that the cable/sat/etc companies and the station owner negotiate whatever terms are acceptable to both parties. Without an agreement the station can't be carried. The agreement doesn't necessarily have to be money changing hands. In the early days of RC the cable companies refused to pay the stations money but instead agreed to add sister cable networks to the lineup in exchange for the right to carry the broadcast station. That was how America's Talking (remember that?), fX, ESPN2 and TV Food Network initially got onto some cable systems. Today it's all about the Benjamins.

Just to make sure it's clear, DirecTV is not dropping local channels. It's an option if the subscriber wants it and it would save $12/month. For those who can pick up the stations over the air anyway this makes a lot of sense. Why pay $12 a month for something you can get free?