Company: UONE
Filing Date: 2025-11-04
Form Type: 10-Q
Source: 0001041657-25-000054
Chunk: 33

Company: URBAN ONE, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-11-04
Form: 10-Q
Item: Part I, Item 2
Chunk 33
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 Broadcast Music, Inc. (“BMI”) and SESAC, Inc. (“SESAC”). The market for rights relating to musical works is changing rapidly. Songwriters and music publishers have withdrawn from the traditional performing rights organizations, particularly ASCAP and BMI, and new entities, such as Global Music Rights Inc. (“GMR”), have been formed to represent rights holders. These organizations negotiate fees with copyright users, collect royalties and distribute them to the rights holders. These licenses periodically come up for renewal and, as a result, certain of our performing rights organizations (“PRO”) licenses are currently the subject of renewal negotiations. The outcome of these renewal negotiations could impact, and potentially increase, our music license fees. In addition, there is no guarantee that additional PRO's will not emerge, which could impact, and in some circumstances increase, our royalty rates and negotiation costs.

The Radio Music Licensing Committee (“RMLC”), of which we are a represented participant, has negotiated and entered into, on behalf of participating members, an Interim License Agreement with ASCAP effective January 1, 2022 and to remain in effect until the date on which the parties reach agreement as to, or there is court determination of, new interim or final fees, terms, and conditions of a new license for the five year period commencing on January 1, 2022 and concluding on December 31, 2026. On February 7, 2022, the RMLC and GMR reached a settlement and achieved certain conditions which effectuate a four-year license to which the Company is a party for the period April 1, 2022, to March 31, 2026. The license includes an optional three-year extended term that the Company has opted into. On August 19, 2025, the RMLC announced that it had settled litigation with BMI and ASCAP concerning licensing arrangements and that the settlement has led to new license agreements for members organizations. Both agreements are retroactive to January 1, 2022, and run through December 31, 2029. Each of the new BMI and ASCAP licenses maintain the same percentage-of-revenue license fee structure of the prior licensing arrangements and continue to provide for broad coverage of over-the-air programming, as well as simulcast/website transmissions of podcasts/archived content. While the percentage rates in the new licensing arrangements are higher than the old rates, they are lower than the rates sought by each of BMI and ASCAP in the now-settled litigation. The rate