Noncommercial Stations Mull Proposed Copyright Royalty Rates
When the Copyright Royalty Board gets comments from broadcasters on royalty rates for performance and musical compositions and graphic and other works used by PBS and NPR affiliates, some smaller nonprofit stations may seek a cheaper tier, industry officials predicted. The board also received comments on a similar proposal for the period of January 2013 through December 2017 for other noncommercial educational stations (NCEs). Some small NCEs said adopting reasonable rates is critical to their operations. Comments on the NPR and PBS proceeding are due July 26, said a notice in the Federal Register (http://xrl.us/bnc4zt).
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These proceedings tend to be noncontroversial, said Kevin Goldberg, broadcast attorney at Fletcher Heald. “It’s not going to be earth-shattering as far as stations needing to revise a whole new budget.” However, smaller organizations want a cheaper tier, he said. PBS and NPR affiliates likely won’t push for the creation of a smaller tier, he added. Wilkinson Barker’s David Oxenford agreed that reasonable royalty rates are very important for noncommercial station operations. “For a station that uses a lot of music it’s very important to know what your rates are,” he said. Royalty rates are a cost of operation just like for other broadcasters or webcasters, he said.
For performance of musical compositions on noncommercial stations that aren’t affiliated with NPR or PBS, the lowest tier is aimed at stations serving a market with less than 250,000 people, according to an April Federal Register notice (http://xrl.us/bnc4yf). Beginning at $631 in 2013, the proposed rates are to increase by $13 each year until 2017.
Some noncommercial broadcast organizations serving small and rural populations urged the board in earlier comments on non-PBS and NPR NCEs to adopt another tier that pertains to the size of their populations served. The proposed rates are unsustainable, said Jeff Cotton, director of OpenSky Radio Corp., which includes three stations that each serve populations between 300 and 600. “I feel that stations under 25,000 [listeners] should have some minimal fee, and stations serving less than 5,000 people should be exempt.” A station’s number of listeners could be different from the population count, he said. “We can’t pay $600 a year to cover 75 or 80 people who may be listening to it at one time.” OpenSky’s Spanish language KVYA(FM) Cedarville, Calif., broadcasts programming from Radio Bilingue, which is licensed by the Corp. for Public Broadcasting, he added. “But because we're not a CPB member, BMI is coming after us for full royalty rates, even though we're rebroadcasting content that’s licensed under CPB.” BMI is among the performing rights organizations on which the Copyright Royalty Board wants comments on the rates it would collect.
Without a lower tier, some organizations may be discouraged from applying for new low-power FM licenses, said Susan Raybuck, board president of Wimberley Valley Radio in Texas. The board is working to get a new license for a station, which would be located in a rural area, she said. “It also could really impact our ability to be viable and stay on the air.” Paying reasonable rates “would be very important in our ability to survive and thrive,” she said. For KPOV(FM) Bend, Ore., a full-power NCE serving about 80,000 listeners, royalty payments are 1.5 percent of its $100,000 annual budget, said Pearl Stark, the station manager. “Compared to our per-capita listenership, the royalty rates are really steep.” Having a lower tier available for smaller stations would be reasonable, she said.