Retransmission fees paid to broadcast stations will reach $9.3 billion in 2020, according to a new projection by SNL Kagan.
Kagan had previously estimated that retrans fees will hit $7.64 billion in 2019 and raised that to $8.78 billion in its new forecast.
This year, Kagan estimates that retrans payments will be $4.9 billion.
A big chunk of retrans fees going to affiliates will be sent to the networks in the form of reverse compensation. Kagan figures that reverse comp could increase to $2.33 billion in 2020 from $1.53 billion in 2015.
Over time, Kagan says affiliates will be getting increases in their monthly retrans fees, but that networks will be getting 59% of the total.
Kagan esimates that broadcasters will be getting an average of $1.32 per month by 2017, and that will top what most basic cable networks get, with the exception of ESPN and TNT. The figure will also top what most regional sports networks get.
(Photo via Ervins Strauhmanis's Flickr. Image taken on Sept. 19, 2014 and used per Creative Commons 2.0 license. The photo was cropped to fit 3x4 aspect ratio.)
