RAIN: Radio And Internet Newsletter: RAIN 01/27: Webcasters' oral arguments in CRB appeal scheduled for March 19

RAIN 01/27: Webcasters' oral arguments in CRB appeal scheduled for March 19
·Jan 27, 12:23 PM
Posted by: Paul Maloney

Some progress to report in webcasters’ appeal of the 2007 CRB determination on performance royalties (RAIN coverage here) for the 2006-2010 period: webcasters’ oral argument is scheduled for March 19.

Unsuccessful in petitioning the Copyright Royalty Board to rehear the case that led to the determination, and failing in an emergency stay of the rate decision, webcasters filed an appeal of the decision in federal court on May 30, 2007 (coverage here). This past October, Congress passed the Webcaster Settlement Act (here), enabling SoundExchange to negotiate industry-wide royalty settlements with different classes of webcasters until February 15th.

The appeal is considered a last-resort effort for webcasters, who put far more hope in a negotiated settlement with the record inudstry. “If no settlement under the Webcaster Settlement Act is reached before the February 15 deadline, the case will go on,” D.C. attorney and industry expert David Oxenford (pictured) told RAIN. “Even though the argument will be held in March, a final decision by the Court will likely not be released for several months after the argument.”

Representatives for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other public radio indeed reached a settlement with SoundExchange (announced January 15, coverage here), upon which public broadcasters dropped their appeal of the CRB decision.

TRITON JOINT VENTURE WILL HELP STATIONS BRING USER-GENERATED CONTENT TO WEBSITES

Triton Digital Media has partnered with online video and digital media management company VMIX. The partnership will now provide video and photo management for broadcasters to accept and publish user-generated content. For more, read Radio Ink’s coverage here.

FM-EQUIPPED CELL PHONE AT CES PLEASES NAB

Nokia’s new 7510 handset, recently

debuted at CES, comes equipped with an FM antenna to the delight of the NAB’s David Rehr. “Providing FM broadcast reception capabilities in cell phones creates multiple benefits for broadcasters, cellular network providers and consumers alike,” he wrote in a recent letter. The Nokia phone model will be offered through T-Mobile, which Rehr notes has other FM-equipped models but he still looks forward “to when all the handsets supported by T-Mobile provide access to FM radio as a standard feature.” For more, read R&R’s coverage here.

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