Two musician advocacy groups are again asking the FCC to leave its local radio ownership limits in place, setting up another round of opposition to the National Association of Broadcasters as the agency weighs whether to scrap the cap.
The MusicFIRST Coalition and the Future of Music Coalition met virtually with staff from the FCC's Office of Economics and Analytics and the Media Bureau, according to an ex parte filing describing the meeting. The Local Radio Ownership Rule limits how many stations one entity can own in a local market overall, and how many it can own in the same service, AM or FM. The FCC has been taking comments on possibly eliminating the rule as part of its 2022 Quadrennial Review. NAB wants the limits removed and says both small and large broadcasters support that push.
The Quadrennial Review is the periodic proceeding in which the Commission must examine its broadcast ownership rules and decide whether they still serve the public interest. An ex parte filing is the required public record of a meeting or contact with FCC decision-makers in a proceeding that is still open.
The groups asked the FCC to "consider both intragroup competition between terrestrial broadcasters as well as intergroup competition with other audio platforms, while upholding the unique public interest objectives for broadcasters relating to ownership diversity, viewpoint diversity, localism and spectrum efficiency." They argued that AM/FM radio already holds an edge over streaming and other digital audio services because of how music royalties work.
"AM/FM radio stations are currently not required to pay a sound recording performance royalty to performers and copyright owners for over-the-air radio broadcasts, while competing digital audio services must obtain licenses and pay royalties for the use of sound recordings," the groups told the FCC. They said that gives broadcasters "a significant cost savings advantage" over non-broadcast competitors, adding: "We believe that music creators should be paid fairly for the use of their work by all platforms that use music as a draw to attract audiences and advertising dollars."
The two coalitions are long-standing opponents of NAB on performance royalties and consolidation, and have previously argued that further broadcast deregulation would hurt smaller stations. The FCC has not said when it will act on the local radio rule.