Saying that he regarded Fox News as second in the cable information market only to ESPN, News Corp COO Chase Carey warned cable systems that Fox News will be asking for a significant increase in carriage fees when contracts come up for renewal. Speaking to the Deutsche Bank Securities Media & Telecom conference in Palm Beach, FL Monday, Carey said, "That's what you live for in the cable business -- to have a channel that a sizable segment of the audience needs to have. ... We have an opportunity to move Fox News to a place where we are able to capture the inherent value and importance of that channel to the marketplace out there." Multichannel News, which reported on Carey's remarks, noted that he did not indicate just how much the channel will be demanding. However, it noted, Fox News was able to triple its fees in some cases to about 75 cents per subscriber per month at the last round on renewal negotiations in 2006 and 2008.

08/03/2011