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Copyright Office Seeks to Update Specialty Station List

February 15, 2007

The Copyright Office has issued a Request for Information to update the “specialty station” list that is used in the administration of the cable compulsory license under 17 U.S.C. § 111. This list identifies those commercial television broadcast stations that would have qualified as specialty stations under the Federal Communications Commission’s former distant signal carriage rules in effect on June 24, 1981. A station’s identification as a specialty station is significant in the administration of the cable compulsory license because cable operators are allowed to pay for the carriage of any distant specialty station at the “permitted” base rate, thus avoiding the higher “3.75 percent rate” for such stations.

The Copyright Office first published a specialty station list in 1990 with the intent of updating the list every three years. However, it has been over 8 years since the last update. The procedure for establishing that a station is a “specialty station” involves the submission of a sworn affidavit attesting that the station satisfies the specialty station criteria: 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 the weekly prime-time hours.” See 47 C.F.R. § 76.5(kk) (1981).

The Copyright Office’s Request for Information requires specialty station owners, even those that have previously filed affidavits, to submit new affidavits on or before April 9, 2007. The Copyright Office will publish in the Federal Register a list of those stations that have submitted affidavits with an opportunity for interested parties to file objections. Thereafter, the Office will publish a final list (noting any objections filed against a particular station’s claim); the Copyright Office, however, does not independently verify the specialty station status of any station. Where good cause is shown, affidavits submitted after the close of the filing period are generally accepted and kept on file at the Copyright Office.

To the extent any cable system carries any stations that offer programming that would qualify for specialty station status, you may want to encourage the station to submit an affidavit.

We would be pleased to respond to any questions regarding this matter

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