[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 15 (Tuesday, January 24, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4639-4640]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-1683]
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Copyright Office
[Docket No. RM 94-4]
Cable Compulsory License: Specialty Station List
AGENCY: Copyright Office, Library of Congress.
ACTION: Request for information.
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SUMMARY: The Copyright Office is compiling a new specialty station list
to identify commercial broadcast television stations that claim to
qualify as specialty stations for purposes of the former distant signal
carriage rules of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). We
published a list in 1990, and at that time we stated that we would
revise the specialty station list at approximately three year
intervals. We are now in the process of updating the list, and request
all interested television broadcast stations that qualify as specialty
stations, including those that previously filed affidavits, to submit
sworn affidavits to us stating that the programming of their stations
satisfies certain former FCC requirements.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Affidavits should be received on or before March 27,
1995.
ADDRESSES: BY MAIL: Copyright GC/I&R, P.O. Box 70400, Southwest
Station, Washington, DC 20024. BY HAND: Office of the General Counsel,
U.S. Copyright Office, James Madison Memorial Building, Room 407, First
and Independence Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20540.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marilyn J. Kretsinger, Acting General
Counsel, Copyright GC/I&R, P.O. Box 70400, Southwest Station,
Washington, DC 20024. Telephone: (202) 707-8380, Telefax: (202) 707-
8366.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Specialty station status is significant in
the administration of the cable compulsory license, 17 USC 111. The
licensing system indirectly allows a cable operator to carry the signal
of a television station classified as a specialty station under the
FCC's regulations in effect on June 24, 1981, at the relevant non-3.75%
royalty rate for ``permitted'' signals. See 49 FR 14944, 14951 (April
16, 1984). Although specialty station status is determined by reference
to former FCC regulations found at 47 CFR 76.5(kk)(1981),1 the FCC
no longer determines whether a station qualifies as a specialty
station. The last time the FCC identified specialty stations was in
1976. In 1987 the Copyright Office was asked to update the list since
the television industry had changed a great deal since the FCC compiled
the 1976 list. Following the receipt of comments, we
[[Page 4640]] adopted a procedure for compiling a new list of specialty
stations.
\1\The FCC defined a specialty station as ``a commercial
television broadcast station that generally carries foreign-
language, religious, and/or automated programming in one-third of
the hours of an average broadcast week and one-third of weekly
prime-time hours.'' 47 CFR 76.5 (kk) (1981).
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The Copyright Office compiled and published its first specialty
station list, together with an announcement of our intention to update
the list approximately every three years in order to maintain as
current a list as possible. 55 FR 40021 (October 1, 1990). A list of
stations that filed too late to be included on the 1990 list was
published in 1991. 56 FR 26165 (June 6, 1991) This list of stations was
not per se a list of additional specialty stations, but did list the
stations that represented themselves as meeting the standards required
to be carried by cable systems at specialty station rates. Since then,
we have accepted sworn affidavits from broadcast stations that claim
specialty station status and have kept them on file. Licensing
examiners have not questioned cable systems' claims that they carry any
of these distant broadcast stations as specialty stations.
Stations filing affidavits with us will be listed in a notice in
the Federal Register in which we solicit public comments as to the
eligibility of these stations as specialty stations. We will not verify
the specialty station status of particular stations that file
affidavits with us, but we will publish a final annotated list of
specialty stations that includes references to any objections filed to
stations' claims. The effective date of the final annotated list will
coincide with the beginning of the accounting period that starts after
the final list is published in the Federal Register. This will allow
cable systems time to modify their channel line-ups should they
discover that the status of a given station has changed.
We will operate under this final list as we did under the first
specialty station list. Copyright Office licensing examiners will refer
to the final annotated list in examining cable systems' claims on their
statements of account that particular stations are specialty stations.
If a cable system claims specialty station status for a station not on
the final annotated list, the examiner will check to determine whether
the station has filed an affidavit since publication of the list.
Affidavits received in this manner will be accepted with the
understanding that those stations will resubmit affidavits when the
Office next formally updates the specialty station list.
When we first revised the specialty station list in 1990, we
decided that a television broadcast station's ``current programming
content'' (content guaranteed to have been carried over the previous 12
months) should dictate whether the station qualifies as a specialty
station. This requirement was intended to discourage broadcast stations
from changing their formats at any given time simply to qualify as
specialty stations. We have not, however, seen evidence that stations
change formats to qualify as specialty stations for copyright purposes.
Instead we believe that in certain instances a station may be hampered
by the 12-month requirement. For example, a station that went on the
air less than 12 months ago may not be able to gain carriage on a
distant cable system as a specialty station even though its programming
would meet former FCC specialty station standards.
It is not our intention to create any hardships for broadcasters,
cable systems, or television viewers. We are, therefore, eliminating
the 12-month requirement. As of the date of this publication, any
station that has carried specialty station programming since July 1,
1994, and that continues to carry sufficient programming may qualify as
a specialty station.
We now request that the owner, or a valid agent of the owner, of
any eligible television broadcast station submit an affidavit to the
Copyright Office stating that he or she believes that the station
qualifies as a specialty station under 47 CFR 76.5(kk) (1981), the
FCC's former rule defining ``specialty station.'' The affidavit must be
certified by the owner or an official representing the owner.
Affidavits are due within 60 days of this publication. There is no
particular format for the affidavit; however, the affidavit must
confirm that the station owner believes that the station qualifies as a
specialty station under the former FCC rules.
Following the 60 day period for submission of affidavits, we will
compile and publish in the Federal Register a list of the stations that
filed affidavits. At the same time, we will solicit views from any
interested party as to whether or not particular stations on the list
qualify as specialty stations. We will then publish in the Federal
Register a list of specialty stations that notes any public objections
to a station's claim. Copyright Office Licensing Examiners will refer
to the final annotated list when examining cable systems' claims on
their Statements of Account that particular stations are specialty
stations.
Dated: January 17, 1995.
Marybeth Peters,
Register of Copyrights.
[FR Doc. 95-1683 Filed 1-23-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 1410-31-P
