Legislative Update

Supporters of a performance right on radio airplay moved to change federal copyright law with the newly proposed American Music Freedom Act, which was introduced Thursday (6/24) by U.S. Reps Tef Deytch (D-FL) and Darrell Issa (R-CA). Details of the bill were still forthcoming, according to a report in InsideRadio, but like a previous attempt…

Three state broadcast associations are fighting against proposed increases in annual regulatory fees on stations. The associations representing broadcasters in Colorado, Florida, and Puerto Rico are also pushing the Federal Communications Commission to rework the process for deciding whether an outlet qualifies for a financial hardship waiver.  And, in a separate filing, 50 state broadcast…

Gongwer reports that the Department of Technology, Management and Budget would have to issue a directive to all agencies not to use any app, software or other technology on an electronic device that prevents the preservation of a public record under a new bill unanimously passed in the state House on Wednesday (6/23). DTMB has…

By: David Oxenford, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) on Friday (6/11) released the rates and terms for webcasting royalties for 2021-2025, and the rates are going up.  While the full decision explaining the reasoning for the rate increases will not be released to the public until the parties to the case have…

By: David Oxenford, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP The Newspaper Broadcast Cross-Ownership Rule is Finally Dead – And More Ownership Rule Changes – Including for Radio – Are to be Considered Last Friday, the FCC took two actions on broadcast ownership resulting from the recent Supreme Court decision (about which we wrote here) upholding changes to the ownership rules that the…

Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday (6/3) vetoed a bill that would prohibit the suspension of Freedom of Information Act requests through an executive order in many cases, according to a report in Gongwer. The bill originated in the House, where it was passed 98-11 on April 22. The Senate later gave its approval to legislation…

Northern Michigan’s U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman (R-1)  joined the growing list of 127 bipartisan cosponsors of a House Resolution in support of the Local Radio Freedom Act on May 28. Reps. Fred Upton (R-6), Tim Walberg (R-7) and Debbie Dingell (D-12) were among the act’s original cosponsors when the resolution was introduced on May 4.…

By: David Oxenford, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP Low Power FM is back in the news this week.  As we noted a week ago in our summary of FCC regulatory actions, a Petition for Rulemaking has been filed by REC Networks asking that the maximum authorized power for LPFM stations be raised from 100 to 250 watts.  The hope among LPFM advocates is that…