Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 72 / Monday, April 16, 2007 / Notices 19055 

Communications Act, filed March 20, 2007. The 

Petition did not raise for comment whether Internet 

video programming distributors may still avail 

themselves of the statutory licenses under the 

Copyright Act. 

13One cable operator appears to advocate the 

replacement of retransmission consent with a new 

statutory license covering the cable retransmission 

of local broadcast television signals. See Ted Hearn, 

Willner Calls for Tax to Aid TV Stations, 

Multichannel News, March 13, 2007 (Insight 

Communications CEO Michael Willner has 

proposed a ‘‘TV tax’’ to replace retransmission 

consent that would fund a ‘‘federal royalty pool’’

‘‘similar to the one used to compensate sports 

leagues and Hollywood studios’’). 

In the absence of the statutory 

licenses, cable operators, satellite 

carriers, and copyright owners would 

have to negotiate the rights to carry 

programs according to marketplace 

rates, terms, and conditions. As stated 

earlier, cable operators and satellite 

carriers have successfully negotiated the 

right to carry local television broadcast 

signals of the major broadcast networks 

under the retransmission consent 

provisions found in Section 325 of the 

Communications Act. We seek comment 

on whether we should recommend to 

Congress that Sections 111 and 119 be 

repealed and superceded by Section 325 

so that distant broadcast stations can 

freely negotiate signal carriage rights 

with cable operators and satellite 

carriers without reference to a statutory 

license.13 Could retransmission consent 

perform the same payment functions as 

Section 111 and Section 119? In other 

words, is there any way a 

retransmission consent agreement can 

be structured so that the monetary value 

of the underlying content is collected by 

broadcast stations and then paid to the 

copyright owners of the programs that 

are retransmitted? Is there any reason 

why retransmission consent would not 

work for the retransmission of distant 

television signals? Are there any 

contractual impediments, such as 

network–station affiliation 

arrangements, that would preclude the 

retransmission of distant television 

signals under a privately negotiated 

agreement? Are there any legal 

impediments, such as the FCC’s 

network non–duplication rules, that 

would frustrate private agreements? Is it 

difficult for small cable operators to 

negotiate the rights necessary to carry 

the signals of distant television stations? 

Would the elimination of the statutory 

licenses cause harm to cable or satellite 

subscribers? If so, how? 

III. CONCLUSION 

We hereby seek comment from the 

public on the legal and factual matters 

identified herein associated with the 

retention, reform, or elimination of 

Sections 111, 119, and 122 of the 

Copyright Act. If there are any 

additional issues not discussed above, 

we encourage interested parties to bring 

those matters to our attention. 

Dated: April 11, 2007 

Marybeth Peters, 

Register of Copyrights. 

[FR Doc. E7–7207 Filed 4–13–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 1410–30–S 

NATIONAL FOUNDATION ON THE 

ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES 

Meetings of Humanities Panel 

AGENCY: The National Endowment for 

the Humanities. 

ACTION: Notice of meetings. 

SUMMARY: Pursuant to the provisions of 

the Federal Advisory Committee Act 

(Pub. L. 92–463, as amended), notice is 

hereby given that the following 

meetings of Humanities Panels will be 

held at the Old Post Office, 1100 

Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 

Washington, DC 20506. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Heather C. Gottry, Acting Advisory 

Committee Management Officer, 

National Endowment for the 

Humanities, Washington, DC 20506; 

telephone (202) 606–8322. Hearingimpaired individuals are advised that 

information on this matter may be 

obtained by contacting the 

Endowment’s TDD terminal on (202) 

606–8282. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

proposed meetings are for the purpose 

of panel review, discussion, evaluation 

and recommendation on applications 

for financial assistance under the 

National Foundation on the Arts and the 

Humanities Act of 1965, as amended, 

including discussion of information 

given in confidence to the agency by the 

grant applicants. Because the proposed 

meetings will consider information that 

is likely to disclose trade secrets and 

commercial or financial information 

obtained from a person and privileged 

or confidential and/or information of a 

personal nature the disclosure of which 

would constitute a clearly unwarranted 

invasion of personal privacy, pursuant 

to authority granted me by the 

Chairman’s Delegation of Authority To 

Close Advisory Committee Meetings, 

dated July 19, 1993, I have determined 

that these meetings will be closed to the 

public pursuant to subsections (c) (4) 

and (6) of section 552b of Title 5, United 

States Code. 

1. Date: May 1, 2007. 

Time: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Room: 315. 

Program: This meeting will review 

applications for Landmarks of American 

History and Culture, submitted to the 

Division of Education Programs, at the 

March 15, 2007 deadline. 

2. Date: May 2, 2007. 

Time: 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. 

Room: 415. 

Program: This meeting will review 

applications for Radio Projects: 

Development and Production Grants, 

submitted to the Division of Public 

Programs, at the March 20, 2007 

deadline. 

3. Date: May 2, 2007. 

Time: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Room: 315. 

Program: This meeting will review 

applications for Landmarks of American 

History and Culture, submitted to the 

Division of Education Programs at the 

March 15, 2007 deadline. 

4. Date: May 24, 2007. 

Time: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Room: 315. 

Program: This meeting will review 

applications for Digital Humanities 

Start-Up Grants, submitted in response 

to the Endowment’s Digital Humanities 

Initiative at the April 3, 2007 deadline. 

5. Date: May 29, 2007. 

Time: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Room: 315. 

Program: This meeting will review 

applications for Digital Humanities 

Start-Up Grants, submitted in response 

to the Endowment’s Digital Humanities 

Initiative at the April 3, 2007 deadline. 

6. Date: April 31, 2007. 

Time: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Room: 315. 

Program: This meeting will review 

applications for Digital Humanities 

Start-Up Grants, submitted in response 

to the Endowment’s Digital Humanities 

Initiative at the April 3, 2007 deadline. 

Heather C. Gottry, 

Acting Advisory Committee Management 

Officer. 

[FR Doc. E7–7197 Filed 4–13–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7536–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[Docket Nos.: 50–155; 72–043; License No. 

DPR–06] 

In the Matter of: Consumers Energy 

Company (Big Rock Point Facility); 

Order Approving Transfer of License 

and Conforming Amendment 

I. 

Consumers Energy Company 

(Consumers) is the holder of Facility 


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