Carey: Fox News Channel Expecting Hefty Carriage Fee Increase

In an investor conference yesterday, News Corp.'s (NASDAQ: NWSA) Chief Operating Officer, Chase Carey, said that the media company is expecting a hefty carriage fee increase for Fox News Channel as it enters into renewal negotiations with distributors this year.

Mr. Carey said, “Fox News Channel, in terms of finding a channel that has the enormous importance to its segment of the market is second only to ESPN."

He added, "That's what you live for in the cable business to have a channel that a sizeable segment of the audience needs to have. We head into our renewals on Fox News later this year in a big way. 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."

Note that the last time News Corp. entered into renewal negotiations for Fox News, which was back in 2006 and 2008, it tripled its fees in some cases to roughly $0.75 per subscriber, per month.

Shares of NWSA are currently lower on the session by 0.70%, trading at $17.09.