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[Federal Register: January 5, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 2)]
[Notices]               
[Page 455-456]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr05ja10-133]                         

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Copyright Royalty Board

[Docket No. 2010-1 CRB Cable Rate]

 
Adjustment of Cable Statutory License Royalty Rates

AGENCY: Copyright Royalty Board, Library of Congress.

ACTION: Notice announcing commencement of proceeding with request for 
Petitions to Participate.

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SUMMARY: The Copyright Royalty Judges are announcing the commencement 
of the proceeding to adjust the rates for the cable statutory license. 
The Copyright Royalty Judges also are announcing the date by which a 
party who wishes to participate in the rate adjustment proceeding must 
file its Petition to Participate and the accompanying $150 filing fee.

DATES: Petitions to Participate and the filing fee are due no later 
than February 4, 2010.

ADDRESSES: An original, five copies, and an electronic copy in Portable 
Document Format (PDF) on a CD of the Petition to Participate, along 
with the $150 filing fee, may be delivered to the Copyright Royalty 
Board by either mail

[[Page 456]]

or hand delivery. Petitions to Participate and the $150 filing fee may 
not be delivered by an overnight delivery service other than the U.S. 
Postal Service Express Mail. If by mail (including overnight delivery), 
Petitions to Participate, along with the $150 filing fee, must be 
addressed to: Copyright Royalty Board, P.O. Box 70977, Washington, DC 
20024-0977. If hand delivered by a private party, Petitions to 
Participate, along with the $150 filing fee, must be brought between 
8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. to the Library of Congress, James Madison Memorial 
Building, LM-401, 101 Independence Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20559-
6000. If delivered by a commercial courier, Petitions to Participate, 
along with the $150 filing fee, must be delivered between 8:30 a.m. and 
4 p.m. to the Congressional Courier Acceptance Site, located at 2nd and 
D Street, NE., Washington, DC. The envelope must be addressed to: 
Copyright Royalty Board, Library of Congress, James Madison Memorial 
Building, LM-403, 101 Independence Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20559-
6000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: LaKeshia Keys, CRB Program Specialist, 
by telephone at (202) 707-7658 or e-mail at crb@loc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Section 111 of the Copyright Act, title 17 of the United States 
Code, grants a statutory copyright license to cable television systems 
for the retransmission of over-the-air television and radio broadcast 
stations to their subscribers. In exchange for the license, cable 
operators submit royalties, along with statements of account detailing 
their retransmissions, to the Copyright Office on a semi-annual basis. 
The Office then deposits the royalties with the United States Treasury 
for later distribution to copyright owners of the broadcast programming 
retransmitted by cable systems.
    A cable system calculates its royalty payments in accordance with 
the statutory formula described in 17 U.S.C. 111(d). Royalty fees are 
based upon the gross receipts received by a cable system from 
subscribers receiving retransmitted broadcast signals. Section 111(d) 
subdivides cable systems into three categories based on their gross 
receipts: small, medium, and large. Small systems pay a fixed amount 
without regard to the number of broadcast signals they retransmit, 
while medium-sized systems pay a royalty within a specified range, with 
a maximum amount, based on the number of signals they retransmit. Large 
cable systems calculate their royalties according to the number of 
distant broadcast signals which they retransmit to their 
subscribers.\1\ Under this formula, a large cable system is required to 
pay a specified percentage of its gross receipts for each distant 
signal that it retransmits.
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    \1\ For large cable systems which retransmit only local 
broadcast stations, there is a minimum royalty fee which must be 
paid. This minimum fee is not applied, however, once the cable 
system carries one or more distant signals.
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    Congress established the initial gross receipts limitations that 
determine a cable system's size and provided the gross receipts 
percentages (i.e., the royalty rates) for distant signals. 17 U.S.C. 
111(d)(1). It also provided for adjustment of both the gross receipts 
limitations and the distant signal rates. 17 U.S.C. 801(b)(2). The 
limitations and rates can be adjusted to reflect national monetary 
inflation, changes in the average rates charged by cable systems for 
the retransmissions of broadcast signals, or changes in certain cable 
rules of the Federal Communications Commission in effect on April 15, 
1976. 17 U.S.C. 801(b)(2)(A), (B), (C), and (D). Prior rate adjustments 
of the Copyright Royalty Tribunal or Librarian of Congress made under 
section 801(b)(2)(B) and (C) may be reconsidered at five-year 
intervals. 17 U.S.C. 804(b). The current gross receipts limitations and 
rates are set forth in 37 CFR 256.2. Rate adjustments are now made by 
the Copyright Royalty Judges.
    Section 804 of the Copyright Act provides that the gross receipts 
and royalty rates may be adjusted every five years beginning with 2005, 
thus making 2010 a royalty adjustment year, upon the filing of a 
petition to initiate a proceeding. 17 U.S.C. 804(b)(1). However, since 
no petition has been filed pursuant to section 804(b)(1), section 
803(b)(1)(A)(i)(V) requires the Judges to publish a Federal Register 
notice no later than January 5, 2010, commencing this proceeding.

Petitions to Participate

    Petitions to Participate must be filed in accordance with Sec.  
351.1(b) of the Judges' regulations. See 37 CFR 351.1(b). Petitions to 
Participate must be accompanied by the $150 filing fee. Cash will not 
be accepted; therefore, parties must pay the filing fee with a check or 
money order made payable to ``Copyright Royalty Board.'' If a check 
received in payment of the filing fee is returned for lack of 
sufficient funds, the corresponding Petition to Participate will be 
dismissed.
    Note that in accordance with 37 CFR 350.2 (Representation), only 
attorneys who are members of the bar in or more states and in good 
standing will be allowed to represent parties before the Copyright 
Royalty Judges, unless a party is an individual who represents herself 
or himself.

    Dated: December 23, 2009.
William J. Roberts, Jr.,
U.S. Copyright Royalty Judge.
[FR Doc. E9-30825 Filed 1-4-10; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 1410-72-P
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