[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 156 (Tuesday, August 13, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65938-65940]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-18029]


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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Copyright Royalty Board

[Docket Nos. 19-CRB-0010-CD (2018-2021), 19-CRB-0011-SD (2018-2021)]


Distribution of 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 Cable Royalty Funds; 
Distribution of 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 Satellite Royalty Funds

AGENCY: Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), Library of Congress.

ACTION: Notice announcing commencement of distribution proceedings with 
request for Petitions to Participate.

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SUMMARY: The Copyright Royalty Judges (Judges) announce the 
commencement of proceedings to determine distribution of 2018, 2019, 
2020, and 2021 royalties deposited with the Copyright Office under the 
cable service statutory license and the satellite carrier license. The 
Judges also set the date by which all parties wishing to participate 
and share

[[Page 65939]]

in the distribution of cable or satellite retransmission royalties for 
2018 through 2021, inclusive, must file Petitions to Participate and 
pay the accompanying $150 filing fee. The Judges seek a single Petition 
to Participate in either or both the allocation phase and distribution 
phase of the cable royalty proceeding and a separate Petition to 
Participate in either or both the allocation phase and the distribution 
phase of the satellite royalty proceeding. Any party that fails to file 
a petition to participate by the time set forth in this notice shall 
not be a participant at any stage of either proceeding.

DATES: Petitions to Participate, the filing fee, and the additional 
required filing are due on or before September 12, 2024.

ADDRESSES: The petition to participate form is available online in 
eCRB, the Copyright Royalty Board's online electronic filing 
application, at https://app.crb.gov/.
    Instructions: The petition to participate process has been 
simplified. Interested parties file a petition to participate by 
completing and filing the petition to participate form in eCRB and 
paying the fee in eCRB. Do not upload a petition to participate 
document. Additional required information regarding claims shall be 
filed in eCRB separately from the form and no later than the deadline 
for filing the petition to participate.
    Docket: For access to the dockets, go to eCRB, the Copyright 
Royalty Board's electronic filing and case management system, at 
https://app.crb.gov/, and search for Docket Nos. 19-CRB-0010-CD (2018-
2021) and 19-CRB-0011-SD (2018-2021).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anita Brown, CRB Program Specialist, 
(202) 707-7658, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Twice each year, cable services and satellite carriers deposit with 
the Copyright Office royalties payable for the privilege of 
retransmitting over-the-air television and radio broadcast signals via 
cable and satellite. 17 U.S.C. 111, 119. The Copyright Royalty Judges 
(Judges) oversee distribution of the royalties to copyright owners 
whose works are included in the retransmissions and who have filed a 
timely claim for royalties. Pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 803(b)(1), the Judges 
hereby give notice of the commencement of proceedings for distribution 
of cable and satellite royalties deposited for broadcasts retransmitted 
in 2018 through 2021 and call for interested parties to file Petitions 
to Participate.
    Any party wishing to receive royalties payable for 2018 through 
2021 must file a Petition to Participate in each proceeding no later 
than September 12, 2024. If an interested party fails to file a 
Petition to Participate in response to this notice, that party will not 
be eligible for distribution of royalties for 2018 through 2021 from 
either the cable or the satellite fund. The Judges will resolve all 
issues relating to distribution of cable and satellite royalty funds 
for 2018 through 2021 in these proceedings, Docket No. 19-CRB-0010-CD 
(2018-2021) and Docket No. 19-CRB-0011-SD (2018-2021). See 37 CFR 
351.1(b)(2).

Commencement of Distribution Proceedings

    The Judges have determined that controversies exist with regard to 
distribution of the cable and satellite retransmission royalties that 
licensees deposited for 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. Therefore, pursuant 
to Section 804(b)(8) of the Copyright Act, the Judges are causing this 
notice to be published in the Federal Register to announce the 
commencement of cable and satellite distribution proceedings for the 
years 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021.
    The Judges base their conclusion regarding 2018-2021 cable and 
satellite fund controversies upon the entirety of the records, 
including initial motions for partial distribution and the silence 
following orders granting some of those motions. The parties have not 
moved for further partial distribution despite reserving in their 
motions ``the right to move for additional partial distributions . . . 
after . . . any . . . disputes come into better focus.'' See, e.g., 
Motion of the Allocation Phase Parties for Partial Distribution of 2020 
Satellite Royalty Funds, Docket No. 21-CRB-0009-SD (2020 SD) (Mar. 9, 
2023).
    Groups of claimants to the royalty funds, acting together and 
represented by joint counsel, have surely by now made an effort to 
negotiate a distribution scheme agreeable to all claimants. Apparently 
unable to reach an agreement, the claimants have taken no further 
action to seek further partial or final distribution of the funds.
    In the present proceedings, groups of claimants have identified 
themselves as arranged into program categories: Program Suppliers, 
Joint Sports Claimants, Public Television Claimants/Public Broadcasting 
Service, Commercial Television Claimants/National Association of 
Broadcasters, Devotional Claimants, Canadian Claimants, American 
Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), Broadcast Music, 
Inc. (BMI), SESAC, Inc., and National Public Radio. The Judges 
recognize that other claimants might not be represented by joint 
counsel for the groups of claimants. The Judges, therefore, provide 
this public notice to alert anyone who claims an interest in cable or 
satellite retransmission royalties deposited for royalty years 2018 
through 2021, inclusive.
    In order to share in the royalties at issue, any claimant not 
joined in one of the groups identified above must file a Petition to 
Participate, individually or jointly with other claimants. If, at a 
later point in the proceedings, a claimant chooses to join a group 
participating through joint counsel, that claimant may withdraw its 
individual Petition to Participate. The prerequisites to participation 
in a distribution proceeding are (1) the filing (individually or 
jointly) of a valid claim for each royalty year at issue and (2) the 
filing (individually or jointly) of a valid Petition to Participate.
    Only attorneys who are members in good standing of the bar of one 
or more states may represent parties before the Judges. All corporate 
parties must appear through counsel. Only if the petitioning party is 
an individual, may he or she represent himself or herself without legal 
counsel. 37 CFR 303.2.
    The Judges previously assigned separate docket numbers to the cable 
and satellite distribution proceedings for the period 2018 through 
2021. Upon receipt of all Petitions to Participate, the Judges 
anticipate consolidating all cable proceedings for the years 2018 
through 2021 under the captioned docket number 19-CRB-0010-CD (2018-
2021) and all satellite proceedings for the years 2018 through 2021 
under the captioned docket number 19-CRB-0011-SD (2018-2021).

Petitions To Participate

    Parties filing Petitions to Participate must comply with the 
requirements of section 351.1(b) of the Copyright Royalty Board's 
regulations.
    In addition, each Petition to Participate filing must be 
accompanied by a filing that sets forth for each claim year, the name 
of each claimant, the corresponding claim number, an indication of 
whether the claim is an individual or joint claim, and the program 
category into which the claim may fall. Each Petition to Participate 
shall be accompanied by a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet in electronic 
form consisting of the following columns: Claimant; Claim Year; Claim 
Number; Claim Type; Allocation Phase Category.

[[Page 65940]]

For ``Claim Type,'' participants shall enter ``I'' for an individual 
claimant, ``J'' for a joint claimant, and ``W'' for a claimant listed 
within a joint claim. The information in the column for ``Claim 
Category'' shall be coded 1 for syndicated programming and movies, 2 
for live college and professional team sports, 3 for programs produced 
by local commercial television stations, 4 for public broadcasting, 5 
for programs of a religious or devotional character, 6 for Canadian 
programs retransmitted within the United States, 7 for musical works 
carried on broadcast television signals, and 8 for National Public 
Radio (all non-music content broadcast on NPR stations). Claimants' 
characterization of their claims at this juncture is for ease of 
administration only and is not dispositive of the ultimate disposition 
of any claim.
    Petitioners who seek to categorize any claim in a category not 
listed in the previous paragraph shall assign a number (starting with 
9) to each new category and shall include a brief description of each 
new proposed category. Claimants, or claimant representatives, that 
have filed claims in multiple years shall list the claims in separate 
rows for each year. Claimants, or claimant representatives, that will 
seek royalties in multiple claim categories shall list each claim in a 
separate row for each separate claim category. Similarly, claimants, or 
claimant representatives, that assert multiple claims in a given claim 
year shall list each claim and claim number in a separate row. 
Petitioners are responsible to make a sufficient showing of a 
``significant interest'' in the royalty funds at issue to avoid 
dismissal of the Petition to Participate.
    Claimants whose claims do not exceed $1,000 in value and who 
include a statement in their Petitions to Participate that they will 
not seek distribution of more than $1,000 may file the Petition to 
Participate without payment of the filing fee.
    Participants should conform filed electronic documents to the 
Judges' Guidelines for Electronic Documents, available online at 
https://www.crb.gov/docs/Guidelines_for_Electronic_Documents.pdf.

    Dated: August 8, 2024.
David P. Shaw,
Chief Copyright Royalty Judge.
[FR Doc. 2024-18029 Filed 8-12-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 1410-72-P