Copyright Office Requests Comment on Marketplace Solutions to Replace Statutory Licenses

Section 302 of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2010 (Pub. L. No. 111-175) directed the Copyright Office to prepare a report addressing possible mechanisms, methods, and recommendations for phasing out the statutory licensing requirements set forth in sections 111, 119, and 122 of the Copyright Act. The Office is now seeking comment on marketplace solutions to replace the use of these statutory licenses for the retransmission of over-the-air broadcast signals, suggestions for ways to implement market-based licensing practices, and legislative and regulatory actions that would be needed to bring about these changes. The Office expects the report to (1) provide Congress with a balanced appraisal of the marketplace arrangements that could occupy the space left if the statutory licenses were eliminated from the Copyright Act; (2) offer Congress a choice of options from which it could approach and repeal the statutory licenses; and (3) discuss the current state of licensing in the video programming marketplace. Comments are due 45 days from publication in the Federal Register of this announcement. Reply comments are due 30 days after. (Read more.)