SPARKS, Maryland - Our parent company and the satellite provider are in negotiations to continue giving DirecTV the right to broadcast our signal. Every cable and satellite provider has to pay a fee to retransmit programming. Jennifer Gilbert takes a look at what you pay for in your monthly bill, which includes channels you probably never watch. A sitcom or the latest in reality television. Broadcast television is still among the most viewed entertainment in the country. All of the top 10 network tv shows still bring in more viewers than the most viewed show on cable. Despite that, tv providers like DirecTV still pay over-the-air broadcasters far less than other less viewed channels.

"There are kids channels you're paying a lot of money for," says Barry Faber. "If you don't have children and you don't watch it, you're still paying for it. If you're not interested in FOX or CNN, their ratings are far lower than our broadcast stations that bring local news every day, you're still forced to pay for that."

In 2012, the largest chunk of your monthly tv bill went to ESPN. SNL Kagan is a company that tracks retransmission charges. It shows an average of $9.18 of every monthly cable and satellite bill went to the ESPN networks. Also topping the list, 3-Net. It's a group of 3D channels that cost each subscriber $1.29 a month. Another top paid channel, TNT, gets $1.18. The average local tv broadcaster gets just 33 cents. In some markets, local news is viewed by 3.5 times the number of people watching cable. Local broadcasters on average only get 7% of what cable networks receive. That's why Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns this station, is negotiating a new contract with DirecTV, which gives them the right to broadcast our signal.

If Sinclair and DirecTV can't reach a deal, our signal on DirecTV could go to black on March 1. In a statement, DirecTV says "Despite Sinclair's attempts to alarm everyone, our customers can rest assured no one is going to disrupt their programming. Sinclair has used the same tactics to frighten customers of every other major tv provider without actually taking down its stations." The reality is, without an agreement, the local programming on this station cannot be broadcast on DirecTV.
If You Have DirecTV, You could Soon Lose FOX17 - Jennifer Gilbert