The rate standard for performance royalties on different platforms would be harmonized under an amendment to the Performance Rights Act (S-379), which passed the Senate Judiciary Committee after failed votes on other amendments Thursday. The successful amendment sponsored by committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, also would introduce a “tiering” system for royalty payments by broadcasters to lessen the burden of new payments on smaller stations. An idea previously floated to protect the intellectual property rights of sound-recording artists in contrast to new royalties -- an “opt-out” list for artists who don’t want uncompensated playback on radio (WID Aug 5 p1) -- failed in markup.
Approval of the Performance Rights Act (S-379) would drive at least a third of minority broadcasters into bankruptcy, leaders of minority organizations in a variety of industries wrote Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. The committee is to consider the bill at a Thursday markup. Minorities own about 7 percent of broadcasting licenses and 2 percent of industry asset value, with most operating with “inferior facilities” and “weak financing,” they said. Stations that remain following enactment of S-379 “would find it virtually impossible to raise the capital they need to grow.” Small broadcasters could become just large enough to “trigger the huge royalty fees that preclude any hope of eventual profitability,” the letter said. It was signed by heads of the Black College Communication Association, Hispanic Institute, International Black Broadcasters Association, National Association of Black Telecommunications Professionals, Latinos in Information Sciences and Technology, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, National Black Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Spanish Broadcasters Association, and Unity: Journalists of Color.
The Senate Finance Committee has announced that it will be holding an October 20, 2009 hearing on S. 1631, the Customs Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 20091.
Approval of the Performance Rights Act (S-379) would drive at least a third of minority broadcasters into bankruptcy, leaders of minority organizations in a variety of industries wrote Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. The committee is to consider the bill at a Thursday markup. Minorities own about 7 percent of broadcasting licenses and 2 percent of industry asset value, with most operating with “inferior facilities” and “weak financing,” they said. Stations that remain following enactment of S-379 “would find it virtually impossible to raise the capital they need to grow.” Small broadcasters could become just large enough to “trigger the huge royalty fees that preclude any hope of eventual profitability,” the letter said. It was signed by heads of the Black College Communication Association, Hispanic Institute, International Black Broadcasters Association, National Association of Black Telecommunications Professionals, Latinos in Information Sciences and Technology, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, National Black Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Spanish Broadcasters Association, and Unity: Journalists of Color.
A broad array of cable and telcom interests sought equalization of pole-attachment rates. They were responding to an FCC petition by four electric utilities for cable VoIP service to pay the higher telecom rate. Conventional cable operators and incumbent and competitive local exchange carriers agreed that there’s much support among them for the commission to reject the petition. Utilities that own the poles should charge, instead of two rates, a broadband fee that applies to a wide range of companies, the telco and cable filings said. A Massachusetts regulator supported equalization.
The FCC asked Google a series of questions about its practice of preventing calls to some phone numbers from Google Voice. AT&T last month asked the commission to investigate “call blocking” by Google Voice and to treat it and other new phone service providers the same as conventional telcos. The Wireline Bureau asked technical and other questions going to the regulatory status of Google Voice. The response is due Oct. 28, six days after an FCC meeting where the commissioners will vote on a notice of proposed rulemaking on expanded net neutrality rules.
Rules in the Patriot Act about issuing and disclosing national security letters (NSLs) were a subject of sharp debate Thursday at a contentious Senate Judiciary Committee markup session. The committee’s approval of a substitute amendment to a bill to reauthorize expiring provisions of the law and make other changes (S-1692) took up the entire session, pushing off consideration of the Performance Rights Act (S-379). A number of amendments offered by Ranking Member Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., were also approved by the committee. An amendment by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., to raise the standard for issuing the letters was rejected. The Act’s rules for the letters aren’t expiring this year.
Rules in the Patriot Act about issuing and disclosing national security letters (NSLs) were a subject of sharp debate Thursday at a contentious Senate Judiciary Committee markup session. The committee’s approval of a substitute amendment to a bill to reauthorize expiring provisions of the law and make other changes (S-1692) took up the entire session, pushing off consideration of the Performance Rights Act (S-379). A number of amendments offered by Ranking Member Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., were also approved by the committee. An amendment by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., to raise the standard for issuing the letters was rejected. The Act’s rules for the letters aren’t expiring this year.
Multiple businesses, trade associations, and business organizations have sent a letter to leadership at the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees asking them to make the immediate renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences a priority.