More than 100 TV stations are poised to get new digital channels or make other changes, under an FCC order containing the full list of all U.S. DTV channels. The new table of allotments may take into account requests to expand coverage areas by many stations that will broadcast digitally on a different channel after Feb. 17, 2009, the FCC said late Monday. Among other changes, the FCC gave 13 stations alternative channels on which to broadcast after the digital transition.

Broadcasters’ desire to avoid paying royalties to musicians for airing their songs met with skepticism from many members of the House Intellectual Property Subcommittee at a 3-hour hearing Tuesday punctuated by singing by Judy Collins. Testifying for NAB, ICBC Broadcast Holdings President Charles Warfield was asked by several members to describe what makes his industry different from webcasters, satellite radio and cable radio. Those industries pay performance royalties, but Warfield said extending them to broadcasters would amount to a tax. “Some people look at this as a wealth transfer that goes to very successful record companies,” said Warfield. “Compensation to the record labels and artists is provided under the current system,” he said, calling efforts at change “misguided.”

The FCC is preparing to issue a media-ownership rulemaking notice on a broad array of questions, including whether companies can surpass radio and TV station limits when planning to sell assets to minorities (CD Jan 12 p1), agency sources said. They said Chairman Kevin Martin has circulated a further notice of proposed rulemaking among colleagues to deal with an 11-month old petition from Minority Media & Telecommunications Council (MMTC). The notice could be issued as soon as this week, said FCC and industry officials. But eighth-floor negotiations over the length of the public-comment period may stall the notice’s release.

Prospects have risen for an FCC vote on a Comcast regional sports network (RSN) petition after a majority of commissioners said privately that they want to weigh in on the matter of defining the America Channel, agency officials said. They said at least three commissioners other than Chairman Kevin Martin told Martin’s office that they want to vote on whether the network counts as an RSN. Comcast wants the FCC to rule that the channel is not a regional network under the FCC’s July 2006 Adelphia order (CD May 25 p5). Comcast claims the America Channel is a national network because it has deals to carry sports games from colleges nationwide. The channel claims to be an RSN because it will have at least a half-dozen regional feeds.

Cable operators used a Monday Copyright Office hearing to press again for changes (CD Aug 24/05 p6) in compulsory license rules letting pay-TV providers carry broadcast signals without getting each copyright owner’s permission. Lawyers for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) and American Cable Association (ACA) slammed the Office’s so-called phantom signal policy, under which cable companies pay royalties amounting to millions yearly for distant signals for all subscribers served by a headend even when only some get a distant broadcast signal. NCTA Vice President Diane Burstein said the Office has authorization from Congress to fix the situation. But, when Copyright Office officials asked if cable operators should get licenses directly from broadcasters or other content owners, she and Christopher Cinnamon, representing ACA, called wholesale change in compulsory licensing procedures unneeded. DirecTV and EchoStar officials also called compulsory licenses crucial.

Clear Channel stopped asking independent musicians to forego online royalty payments to get air play allotted to upstart artists, said company officials and an artist advocacy group. The company had asked artists to waive digital performance right royalties when submitting online requests for songs to be played, prompting the Future of Music Coalition (FMC) to complain to the FCC (CD July 16 p14). In settling an FCC payola inquiry, Clear Channel agreed to air 1,600 hours of songs from independent artists. On July 12, Clear Channel reworded its online song submission form to clarify that it is not asking artists to forego royalties, said an executive. The same day, FMC said Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., queried Clear Channel and three other broadcasters participating in a $12.5 million FCC payola settlement. FMC hailed the Clear Channel move, saying it “ensures artists can keep their rights to their public performance royalties.” The fracas was a “David vs. Goliath story,” said FMC Executive Director Jenny Toomey. “After years of dictating terms to the music industry, Clear Channel is clearly on the defensive now,” she said. Disputing FMC’s characterization, Clear Channel said it reworked the online royalty contract terms after the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), which brokered the air time deal, brought the matter to its attention. “We never had any intention of not paying licensing fees for radio air play or for online streaming of simulcast programs,” said Clear Channel Chief Legal Officer Andy Levin. “We clarified it well before FMC filed its misleading and misinformed petition.” FMC’s complaint is “a perfect example of no good deed goes unpunished,” he said. Despite Clear Channel’s contract rewrite, FMC will not withdraw its FCC complaint; it wants the commission to clarify all broadcasters’ obligations, it said. “We want to make sure the rules are as clear as possible so we don’t ever have to get into this situation again with anyone else,” said Toomey. “We want a clear line in the sand, because there is nothing to prevent them from reverting to a similar practice.” Clear Channel, A2IM and the Recording Artists Coalition on Friday asked the FCC to dismiss FMC’s petition. The three entities said in a joint FCC filing that the “revised license terms will ensure fair treatment to recording artists and independent labels.”

Broadcasters fear an indecency bill set for a Senate Commerce Committee vote today (Thursday) will revive a “chilling effect” the industry thought diminished by a June 4 appellate court ruling, said industry lobbyists. As of late Wednesday, the committee seemed poised to approve a bill (CD July 16 p13) that would let the FCC fine stations for airing a single obscenity or indecent image, said most observers we spoke with. The committee will mark up other bills, including one on phone-number portability and one on broadband access mapping (see separate report in this issue), when it meets Thursday afternoon.

The Copyright Office should push Congress not to give Web sites freedom to stream broadcast TV shows under compulsory licensing laws, several content providers said in comments to the office. Disney, professional sports leagues, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and a group whose members said they license music from nearly every published songwriter said the Office should not recommend lawmakers apply to Web sites the Copyright Act compulsory license provisions that let cable and satellite operators carry those signals without contracts with each copyright owner (CD July 5 p7).

A large and diverse digital TV education group is gaining momentum, adding more than 100 members the past four and a half months and getting the FCC to join, said members. The commission formally joined the Digital Television Transition Coalition several days ago, an agency spokesman said. Formal FCC affiliation makes good on Chairman Kevin Martin’s public promises to collaborate with NTIA, other agencies and private bodies to alert Americans to the Feb. 17, 2009 analog cutoff (CD June 26 p2). On Monday, NTIA Administrator John Kneuer and FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein spoke to about 60 coalition members, according to participants in the meeting at National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) headquarters. Adelstein told the group it has made progress but must do much more because “few Americans really understand” the transition.

At least three FCC commissioners have voted to deny a Comcast CableCARD request asking the full agency to rescind a Jan. 10 Media Bureau order refusing to waive the set-top box integration ban, agency officials said late Monday. The votes make it all but certain that Comcast will fail in its year-plus effort to keep deploying inexpensive boxes combining security and navigation features after the July 1 integration ban. Some analysts expect Comcast to sue the FCC once its denial of the petition is released (CD July 9 p1).