Copyright Office Again Recommends Phasing Out Distant Signal License

The Copyright Office has recommended phasing out the distant signal compulsory license, and exploring phasing out the compulsory license for local signals as well. That would require cable and satellite operators to negotiate individually with copyright owners or TV stations for carriage of programming they deliver to their customers. Calling it a "construct of an earlier era," the Copyright Office report concluded that Congress should provide a "date-specific trigger" for the phase out of the distant signal license, but hold off on phasing out the local signal license "to a later time." It is only a recommendation, but one the cable industry opposed in its comments on the report. Cable operators, not looking to have to conduct individual negotiations for programs, suggested the license was hardly an anachronism, but instead a balance of the competing interests of operators and programmers.