• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, January 6, 2011

A top Charter Communications executive said there have been minimal complaints about a new charge rooted in payments the cable operator is making to broadcasters, adding that the customer fee could help modify price increases.

Ted Schremp, Charter's executive vice president overseeing operations and marketing, says there hasn't been "a whole lot of negative consumer reaction" to the move.

In October, monthly bills for most Charter subscribers began including a "broadcast TV surcharge" line item within the "taxes and fees" section -- in the $1 range, depending on the market.

Schremp said Charter simply calculated the amount it is paying broadcasters in retransmission consent payments per market, and opted to pass it through to customers -- without skimming off the top or "taking a margin."

"We did that, in large part, because we want to get away from the traditional annual price increases, and that seemed like a logical vehicle to at least deal with the retrans portion of the equation," he said at an investor event. p> As multiyear contracts with the broadcast stations have annual fee increases, Schremp said the surcharge will be recalculated once a year.

A bill can include so many line items -- and that load is growing all the time. Some customers may largely take a "whatever" attitude. With more scrutiny, the amount of complaints about the surcharge might have grown. Then again, a $1 price increase may not be enough to make viewers harangue customer service.

When alerting customers to the coming charge last fall, Charter said the amount "will reflect the charges to Charter levied by the owners of broadcast TV stations." Customers with packages carrying a guaranteed price would be exempt, until that offer expires.

Charter stated in December: "While broadcast stations distribute their signals over the air using free spectrum granted to them by the federal government, they charge Charter significant amounts to carry their TV signals. These signals were historically made available to Charter at no cost, or low cost. However, the prices now demanded by broadcast stations have necessitated that we pass these costs on to customers."

By simply passing them along, Charter might better avoid some of the brutal disputes that operators such as Cablevision and DirecTV have been going through on retrans payments, which led to station blackouts.