Yes, Virginia, There are Updates
Just a quick update on some recent stories we've had on CommLawBlog. There's a common thread running through all three. A free CommLawBlog subscription to the first person who can find it...
- The House of Representatives passed the Free Flow of Information Act by a voice vote late Tuesday night, less than a week after we reported to you that the House Judiciary Committee had done the same. The fight for a federal shield law now moves to the Senate. Unclear whether the Senate will take up HR 985 (introduced by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA)) or focus on its own version, S 448, and try to reconcile the differences later.
- Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) introduced the "Local Radio Freedom Act" in the Senate on March 30. This is a nonbinding resolution which serves as formal opposition to the Performance Rights Act (HR 848 and S 379) legislation that would require over-the-air broadcasters to pay royalties for performance of sound recordings for the first time ever. The introduction of the Local Radio Freedom Act comes in the midst of a flurry of activitiy in this area. As we earlier reported, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the Performance Rights Act on March 10. That legislation now has 36 co-sponsors in the House and 6 in the Senate supporting the institution of a performance right for over-the-air broadcasting.
A key Congressman, Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), Chair of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has called broadcasters to the negotiating table. He's quoted in the April 1 edition of Communications Daily as saying: "My advice: It's time to start talking." The Communications Daily piece notes that this particular quote was part of a more general statement opining that broadcasters should enter into negotiations regaridng royalty rates across all platforms, not just the over-the-air performance right.
We're not sure how quickly broadcasters will respond, as they appear to have the upper hand for now: the House version of the Local Radio Freedom Act (again -- the opposition to a Performance Right), H. Con. Res. 49, now has 158 co-sponsors. The new Senate resolution, numbered S. Con. Res 14, boasts Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) as co-sponsors to Senator Lincoln.
- Finally, the United States Supreme Court decided not to review the constitutionality of Virginia's overly broad Anti-Spam law, which was declared unconstitutional on September 12, 2008 by the State Supreme Court. Virginia's lawmakers are now likely to take up the matter during their next session.
