Gannett in New Affiliate Deal With NBC

Gannett Co., owner of 21 U.S. television stations, said it struck a new, six-year affiliation agreement with NBC that reduces the amount of money the network pays Gannett to distribute its programming. Gannett Vice Chairman Douglas McCorkindale said the cut in compensation is significantly less than the $15-million-a-year reduction reported by the Wall Street Journal, which speculated that NBC would pay about $10 million a year, down from more than $25 million a year. He said the smaller payments won’t affect Gannett’s financial results. With 13 NBC affiliates, Gannett is the largest group of NBC stations outside of NBC’s parent, General Electric Co. NBC, like the other big TV networks, is pushing its affiliates to help pay for escalating programming costs, reversing a decades-old practice under which the networks have paid local stations to air their shows. Earlier this month, TV-station owner Granite Broadcasting Corp. agreed to pay NBC $362 million during the next 10 years to air the network’s programs on certain stations.