THE RADIO RAMIFICATIONS OF COURT'S DIGITAL FLAG DECISION Bill Holland – Billboard The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on May 6 knocked down FCC’s “broadcast flag” rule that would have required technology to prevent copying digital television programs. But what about similar digital HD radio protections?
First off, after 10 months, the FCC still hasn’t concluded its inquiry of HD radio to answer that question. Rules on high definition TV (HDTV) came first --the commission figured rightly that the HDTV train had already arrived at the station.
The FCC may make its decisions about HD radio by the summer, according to insiders.
Second, the still-open inquiry scenario for HD radio is dealing with a different business landscape. For one thing, there is no performance right in sound recordings for radio like there is for movies. Radio owners pay only for the use of songs, a historical blip that makes record company execs unhappy.
Back in July, the Recording Industry Assn. of America (RIAA) presented the commission with an 81-page filing and four studies detailing prospective HD radio listener preferences.
RIAA gives thumbs-up to HD radio in the filing, but cautions that possible features in second-generation receivers could cause widespread piracy. “This includes the ability to create free libraries of thousands of CD-like quality songs by ‘cherry-picking’ the music wanted through an automated search function and redistributing songs over the Internet,” according to an RIAA announcement of its filing.
The Recording Artists Coalition (RAC), American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), the Recording Academy, American Federation of Musicians (AFM) and the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) also submitted cautionary comments to the FCC.
The RIAA’s brief argues that unprotected high-definition radio “could become a popular substitute for the unauthorized peer-to-peer networks, as consumers could acquire all the music they want from free over-the-air broadcasts with CD-like quality without having to download any software, expose their computers to viruses and spyware or themselves to a copyright infringement lawsuit.”
Sensing that the HDTV broadcast flag had constitutional problems -- the appeals court found that the FCC has the right to govern how TV signals are received but not what is done with them after reception of the signal is complete -- RIAA stopped short of asking for a radio broadcast flag counterpart.
Instead, RIAA says there is “no intent to prevent consumers from enjoying HD radio,” as long as they copy the old-fashioned way as they would traditional analog radio: “manually pressing a button to start and stop recording a song.” The group argues for the FCC to pass rules that would prohibit “cherry-picking” or the “unfettered redistribution” of the music.
In its brief, the RIAA says broadcasters, retailers and on-demand download services stand to lose as well. “The first two groups will lose the opportunity to provide a ‘buy button’ to satisfy impulse purchases, and broadcasters in particular will experience a decline in audiences, as listeners have no need to tune in except to record new music.”
The trade group also says that services such as iTunes and Rhapsody could be undermined by the availability of free CD-like quality music. |