Payola and Sponsorship Identification

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As reported in Digital Music News and other publications on Friday, Clear Channel Communications dropped its waiver of music royalties from its on-line agreement signed by musicians submitting songs to the Company in hopes that their music would be played on the Company’s radio stations.  In writing about this decision, most publications attribute the decision to the petition filed with the FCC by the Future of Music Coalition and other public interest groups arguing that the waiver requests constituted a form of payola – the giving of something of value (the waiver of the right to receive a royalty) in exchange for the playing of music.  However, on close inspection, that would appear to be a misunderstanding of the royalty, as there would seem to be no royalty that would be affected by the waiver in connection with the playing of this music by radio stations, and therefore there would be no payola over which the FCC has any jurisdiction.

According to the Future of Music petition, Clear Channel’s promise to play new music was made in connection with the payola settlement that it and other companies entered into with the FCC, and was apparently contained in a side letter filed with the FCC, as it was not spelled out in the settlement agreements themselves. See our analysis of the settlement agreements, here.  The side letter promised that the Company would dedicate a certain amount of radio airplay on the Company’s radio stations to new local music.  However, such play would not implicate any music royalties – so a waiver of royalties would not confer any benefit on the Company.  Broadcast stations pay no royalty for the use of a sound recording – thus the waiver that Clear Channel requested was without any value as there was no royalty to waive.  While broadcast stations do pay a royalty for the composition (the underlying words and music of a song), stations play flat fees to ASCAP and BMI that are a function of the station’s market size and power – not a function of how many songs are played.  Thus, as there is no sound recording royalty and a flat fee for the composition royalty unaffected by any waivers, the waiver did not confer any benefit to the Company in connection with its broadcast operations.  Thus, there where would appear to be no payola issue over which the FCC would have any jurisdiction.Continue Reading Music Waivers Dropped Amid Payola Allegations – What’s the Impact for Future Waivers for Webcasters?

In April, the FCC agreed to Consent Decrees calling for fines totaling $12.5 million from four of the country’s largest radio broadcasters in order to settle allegations that these companies had engaged in violations of the FCC’s payola rules. Recently, another public radio company stated in one of its SEC filings that it had received an inquiry…

The FCC today issued the long-awaited text of its decision on Digital Audio radio – the so-called IBOC system.  As we have written, while adopted at its March meeting, the text of the decision has been missing in action.  With the release of the decision, which is available here, the effective date of the new rules can be set in the near future – 30 days after its publication in the Federal Register.  With the Order, the Commission also released its Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, addressing a host of new issues – some not confined to digital radio, but instead affecting the obligations of all radio operations.

The text provides the details for many of the actions that were announced at the March meeting, including authorizing the operation of AM stations in a digital mode at night, and the elimination of the requirements that stations ask permission for experimental operations before commencing multicast operations.  The Order also permits the use of dual antennas – one to be used solely for digital use – upon notification to the FCC.  In addition, the order addresses several other matters not discussed at the meeting, as set forth below.  Continue Reading FCC Issues Rules on Digital Radio – With Some Surprises that Could Eventually Impact Analog Operations

The FCC today issued a Public Notice announcing that it has approved four consent decrees settling its investigation into possible payola violations by several large radio broadcasters.  A copy of the public notice summarizing the action is available here, and copies of the full consent decrees can be found on www.fcc.gov.   

CBS Radio, Citadel Broadcasting…

About this time every year, predictions are offered as to what will happen in the coming year.  Since everyone else does it, we’ve offered our own predictions as to what Washington has in store for the broadcast industry in 2007.  Find a copy of our predictions in the memo on our firm website, here. …

Today, press reports stated that the FCC has sent letters of inquiry to 77 television stations inquiring about their use of Video News Releases (VNRs) without properly notifying their audience about the source of such releases.  VNRs are essentially pre-produced segments provided to television stations for inclusion in their programming.  The Washington Post carried a story, here, describing some of the stories which triggered the FCC investigation.  These reportedly included a report from an electronics show used by several TV stations in their news reports.  The producer of the report had been paid by the electronics manufacturers featured in the story for including their products in the story.

The FCC released a Public Notice in April, 2005 detailing its policies on VNRs.  The Public Notice makes clear that a station must disclose who paid for material broadcast on a station, whether or not the station received the consideration.  Clearly, if an advertiser paid a station for airing a news report, the station would be required to disclose the payment.  But the Public Notice makes clear that the station also owes its audience a disclosure even if it received no consideration, if the party that produced the material broadcast on the station received some consideration, and the station could discover that consideration by asking the producer if he or she was paid or through other means of reasonable investigation.  Continue Reading FCC Investigates Video News Releases