Webcasting Developments 2009
On December 30, 2008, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking . The notice contained at least three substantial changes to the current recordkeeping procedures used college and high school webcasters that do not pay any more than the minimum fee to SoundExchange. One of these changes include a switch from sample periods of 14 days each calendar quarter to census (24/7/365) reporting. That means instead of compiling data about programming for 56 days of the year, stations would now need to compile data for every day of the year. Another proposed change would eliminate the use of “Aggregate Tuning Hours” (ATH) in reports of use. ATH is a calculation of the total number of hours that people listen to a station. For example, if 1 person listens for one hour, the ATH would be 1. If 10 people listen for that same hour, the ATH would be 10. In lieu of reporting ATH, the CRB proposes that stations would need to report any and all listening to each song. The third change would be the introduction of a deadline to submit reports of use. Currently, there is no deadline, which is something that needed to be addressed. The CRB, however, chose to require monthly reports of use and that they be submitted on or before the 45th day after the close of each month. Obviously, this will create a problem for many school stations that have long breaks, such as during the winter or summer.
Read the complete story, including copies of submitted comments in the proceeding.
UPDATE: CBI has submitted a Motion to allow for reply comments. If granted, this would allow CBI and any station to submit comments in reply to the comments made by SoundExchange which support the proposal for census reporting, per performance reporting and monthly reporting of those statistics within 45 days after the close of each month. All interested parties that want to express their thoughts on the comments submitted by SoundExchange should file a motion in support of the CBI motion. It is simple to do and may be submitted via email. Questions? Copyright@askcbi.org.
Additionally, Congress passed a bill called the Webcaster Settlement Act, which allowed Webcasters and services to negotiate a settlement concerning fees and terms, including recordkeeping through 2015. It appears at this point that NPR and NAB have reached settlements. The noncommercial and educational stations, to our knowledge have not reached an agreement and the deadline to reach a settlement has passed. More details are provided on all of this at Read the complete story.
Lake Forest Internet College TV
According to the The Stentor, an initiative at Lake Forest College will result in a new campus TV station that will run exclusively over the Internet. It appears from the article that programming will initially be comprised of movies via a contract with Swank. The movies could be supplemented with student programming. The article mentions the student radio station, WMXM will be played “while announcements play”.
CBI and WHRB ask Copyright Royalty Board to Extend Deadline to File Comments on Expanded Webcasting Rules
Washington, DC – January 16, 2009 – College Broadcasters, Inc., (CBI) a national membership association of non-profit, student-staffed radio stations and electronic media outlets and Harvard Radio Broadcasting Co., Inc., the student-operated FM broadcast station WHRB 95.3FM, based on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, filed a joint motion for additional time to collect data and submit comments to the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) with respect to proposed new rules for webcasting. These new regulations concern the recordkeeping and the reporting requirements for internet radio stations and will have a major impact for small, non-profit webcasters staffed by students on college, university and high school campuses across the US. Read more
Webcasting Developments January-2009
There are a number of big things on the horizon for college stations that webcast soundrecordings either as a simulcast of their broadcast or as their sole means of reaching an audience, including those who want to start a webcast.
1. 2009 royalty payments to SoundExchange are due by 1/31/2009. Many, but not all stations have received a letter from SoundExchange (“SX”) concerning this obligation to pay royalties for 2009. SX will not invoice stations. Stations need to download the appropriate “Statement of Account” from the SX web site, complete the form and submit the payment in the form of a check. While some stations have been advised that no payment is needed while rate negotiations continue, SX has disputed that advice in a letter mailed to many stations and CBI concurs. Another twist on the advice stations have received is that they should continue to pay at their old rates, if they were lower than the new rates (which is true for most college stations), while rate negotiations continue. CBI does not subscribe to this thought process as most college stations operate on limited year-to-year budgets and following this advice could financially harm your station if rate negotiations don’t end up at the old rate.
2. Just as timely and likely more important, there are POTENTIAL changes to the recordkeeping requirements on the horizion, as proposed by the Copyright Royalty Board (“CRB”). Currently, stations are required to keep records concerning each sound recording that is webcast for 14 days each calendar quarter. Details concerning the information to be kept are available in the webcasting section of the site. One of the more troubling aspect of the recordkeeping regulations currently in place is the requirement to report “aggregate tuning hours” or “ATH”. ATH is the total number of listener hours to your stream during the reporting period. For example, if 1 person listens to your stream for 1 hour, your ATH is 1. If 10 people listen to your stream for 1 hour, your ATH is 10. Through in person discussions at conferences and other means of communication, we are aware that many stations find it difficult or impossible to accurately determine ATH. Unfortunately, the proposed rules set a higher bar for reporting your streaming audience. Read more
Utica College’s WPNR fined by FCC
Via cnyradio.com:
Utica College has entered into a “Consent Decree” to settle the public file violations for the non-commercial station. Rather than being ordered to pay a fine, the decree says Utica College agrees to make a $10,000 “voluntary contribution” to the United States Treasury. The decree also stipulates that WPNR will maintain a “Compliance Plan” for the next three years.
Read the full story here.
ABC’s Charlie Gibson to speak at Spring College Media Convention in New York
A hallmark of the Spring National College Media Convention is the appearance by some of the tops in the media world for keynote addresses. Byron Pitts, CBS News national correspondent, will be giving his unique take on national issues in what may have been a transformational year during a convention keynote address. This year ABC World News Anchor Charlie Gibson will be providing the closing keynote addresses on Tuesday, March 17.
For more information on the spring convention schedule, visit the College Media Advisers Web site.
The Latest From CBI
Tell Us Your News
