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Network Appeals Streaming Royalty Rate Decision

NPR is appealing the recent Webcasting decision by the Copyright Royalty Board. The network said it will file a petition for reconsideration with the CRB panel, the first step in the appeal process.

NPR is appealing the recent Webcasting decision by the Copyright Royalty Board. The network said it will file a petition for reconsideration with the CRB panel, the first step in the appeal process.

The decision has each station paying a minimum of $500 royalty to stream their signal over the Internet. For commercial and for larger non-commercial webcasters the judges set a pay-per-play rate of $.0008 for 2006, $.0011 for 2007, $.0014 for 2008, $.0018 for 2009 and $.0019 for 2010.

NPR VP of Communications Andi Sporkin said in a statement the decision was “stunning” and “damaging for public radio and its commitment to music discovery and education.”

“Public radio’s agreements on royalties with all such organizations, including the RIAA,” she went on to state, “have always taken into account our public service mission and non-profit status.”

The new rates treat noncoms the same as commercial radio, she said, with rates “at least 20 times” what noncoms have been paying.

NAB wasn’t happy with the rate decision either, with a spokesman calling it “disappointing” with the potential to result in less music choice for consumers and the stifling of a technology in its infancy.

In his Telecom & Internet Subcommittee hearing last week, Chairman Edward Markey, D-Mass, said the copyright rates decision represented “a body blow” to Webcasters.

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