More FCC news! On May 6, the DC District Court of Appeals threw out the FCC’s order establishing the “broadcast flag,” ruling that the FCC exceeded its authority in creating the flag. The broadcast flag is a signal embedded in a digital television signal that can restrict the distribution of programs.
Content companies like Hollywood movie studios are now asking members of Congress to give the FCC the authority to order the broadcast flag that the court order said the Commission did not have. Content companies are in favor of the broadcast flag because they believe it will keep viewers from making digital copies of their content and circulating them on the internet. There are no specific proposals yet, but broadcast flag-related provisions could be attached to any number of bills coming before Congress.
Opponents of the broadcast flag believe there are bigger consequences to its existence than just prohibiting illegal distribution of digital programs. For example, the flag will impose constraints on the design of consumer-electronics and computer products that will hinder consumers’ ability to use these devices; and it will limit what users can do with broadcast television content more than they are limited now.
Read the decision
Motion Picture Association of America’s (MPAA) CEO on Why the Broadcast Flag Should Go Forward
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit did not rule against the idea of a broadcast flag. It only ruled that the FCC does not have authority from Congress to issue such a regulation.
By Dan Glickman, CNET News, May 26, 2005
Media Attorney Jim Burger on Why the Broadcast Flag Won’t Work
The flag violates a fundamental content-protection maxim: that content must be protected at the source.
By Jim Burger, CNET News, May 26, 2005
11. Corporation for Public Broadcasting Appoints Patricia Harrison as President
In broader media news, on June 23 the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which was set up by Congress in 1967 to shield public broadcasting from political influence, has appointed Patricia Harrison, the former Republican Party co-chair, as its president and chief executive.
Recently, CPB’s chairman, Kenneth Tomlinson, has stirred up controversy alleging that public affairs programming at PBS is too liberal.
Front-Runner for Public Broadcast Agency Job is Former GOP Chair
Harrison’s background in political advocacy has alarmed some public broadcasters, who are concerned that she would compromise CPB’s traditional role as a "heat shield" that protects public broadcasting from political pressure by Congress and the White House.
By Paul Farhi, Washington Post, June 9, 2005
FAM Values
After years of quiescence, of late even senior officials of PBS and the FCC have begun to protest publicly, decrying the ongoing power grab in such mainstream mouthpieces as The Washington Post and The New York Times.
By Rory O’Connor, Alternet, May 10, 2005
12. Newsstream
What’s In a Name? For Clear Channel, an Elevated Status
An aspiring monopoly by any other name is still an aspiring monopoly – or is it? Clear Channel announced on August 9 that its Chicago music operations will now be called Elevated Concerts.
By Jim Derogatis, Chicago Sun Times, August 10, 2005
Roll On, Beethoven
When BBC Radio 3 offered listeners free downloads of symphonies, more than a million jumped at the chance.
By Sarah Shannon, The Independent, August 9, 2005
Recording Industry Says Number of Legally Downloaded Tracks Triples in First Half of 2005
The number of digital music tracks legally downloaded from the internet almost tripled in the first half of 2005 as the use of high-speed broadband connections surged around the world.
By Jane Wardell, Associated Press, July 22, 2005
Setting the Live Music Free
Websites enable the exchange of concert recordings, a practice that has thrived around the Grateful Dead and doesn’t bother the music industry.
By Steve Hochman, LA Times, August 8, 2005
Indie record labels seeing gold
iTunes pay hike, major label’s "payola" scandal leave indie music labels feeling like playing field is leveling at last.
By John Borland, CNET, July 26, 2005
Coffee, tea or CD?
Starbucks is jolting the music business, serving exclusive CDs and customized mixes along with its grandes and ventis
By Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer, July 31, 2005
Lawmaker Revs Up Fair-Use Crusade
Rep. Rick Boucher is a rarity in Congress when it comes to digital media. He’s taken the side of consumers – not Hollywood and the music industry – in the sundry controversies surrounding digital entertainment.
By Katie Dean, Wired, June 16, 2005
Hopes for Legal Music Podcasts Rise
But like other music disc jockeys producing podcasts, which are radio-like shows that can be downloaded from the Internet to a computer or digital music player, he has been operating with one foot squarely in a gray area of the law.
By John Borland, CNET News, June 16, 2005
13. What We’re Up To
Jenny Toomey
Jenny would like to apologize to anyone who read in the last newsletter that she was busy in March and April. Considering the amount of work and travel in May, June and July, clearly, she hadn’t fully understood the meaning of the word. If you’ve read this far into the document you’ve seen us update you on almost a dozen individual issues so significant to musicians that each one could be their own FMC newsletter. Along with the dedicated FMC staff, Jenny’s been working on "allathat" as well as fundraising and pulling together the fifth annual summit. She has traveled from New York, to Seattle, to San Francisco, to The Hague, to Chicago, to Northampton, to Delaware and to other places she has probably already forgotten. In August she looks forward to never leaving the confines of her home.
Kristin Thomson
Since the last dispatch, Kristin has been madly gearing up for the fifth annual Policy Summit, which is shaping up to be the best yet. She recently spoke on panels at Villanova Law School and at the Maryland State Bar Association annual meeting, despite not being a lawyer herself. She also moderated a NARAS "Music in the Schools" Q&A session with the very-awesome Sleater-Kinney when they stopped in Philadelphia on June 24. In early July she spent three sleepless days dispatching and driving artist and crew transportation at the Philadelphia Live 8 show. Her Philly band Ken released its first CD (after, ahem, 10 years of existence) at a show at the Khyber in Philly on July 16. Now available on CD Baby!
Michael Bracy
In an effort to simplify a life complicated by FMC, his lobbying firm, record label, three children, upcoming NFL football season and (new to DC!) baseball pennent race, Michael is going to keep his update simple and clean by focusing on one word: progress. Spitzer investigation?
Progress. Low Power FM legislation? Progress. Emerging media consolidation/telecommunications policy coalition? Progress. Policy Summit? Progress. Slow Dazzle, Phosphorescent, Great Lakes Swimmers, South San Gabriel and Flotation Toy Warning releases? Progress. New Mendoza Line record (out early November)? Significant progress. Year two of the return of Joe Gibbs? We’ll have to see…
Peter DiCola graduated from the University of Michigan Law School on May 7th, and began serving as Research Director for FMC on June 1st. He is working on his ongoing research about the FCC’s media ownership rules as well as laying the groundwork for some new projects