OPPOSITION ABOUNDS TO RIAA CALL FOR IBOC CONTENT PROTECTIONS
In-band on-channel (IBOC) digital audio broadcasting (DAB) without content protection “will materially aggravate the harm” to the recording industry, the RIAA said in reply comments in the FCC’s inquiry on whether to impose copyright remedies. But there was significant opposition to RIAA’s call for encrypting the IBOC signal and requiring an audio broadcast flag in IBOC receivers. CE, broadcasters and consumer groups said the recording industry had failed to document a threat from IBOC, the FCC lacked statutory authority to impose a solution, and the Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA) and other legislation already protected the recording industry.
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RIAA disagreed with consumer groups’ contention that the AHRA limited FCC power to regulate broadcasting. But a consumer group coalition -- Public Knowledge, Consumers Union and Consumer Federation of America -- shot back that whenever Congress has explicitly addressed recording radio, “each time it has clarified that personal home recording is lawful.” The Home Recording Rights Coalition (HRRC) also said if changes are needed “this is a job for the Congress rather than one the Commission could possibly begin to tackle.”
The RIAA -- to bolster its case that unprotected IBOC transmissions could pose at least as big a threat as P2P piracy -- commissioned a new consultant report that showed great “overlap” between the music that dominated free radio airplay and that in high demand on P2P networks and as authorized packaged CDs.
The NAB and IBOC technology developer iBiquity Digital seemed to go further in seeking rejection of IBOC content protections than they had in their original comments, when they argued mainly that the issue shouldn’t be permitted to stall the commercial progress of digital radio. Any restrictions on IBOC transmissions such as those sought by the RIAA would run directly counter to the Copyright Act, iBiquity argued.
The RIAA said again it has begun talking with Sirius and XM to address the content protection issues surrounding satellite radio. It said it believes “there may be a mutuality of interest between the copyright owners and the satellite radio operators that should lead to a commercial solution to the problem.” But the RIAA didn’t find a friendly partner in Sirius, which called RIAA’s bid for IBOC content protections unwarranted and outside the FCC’s jurisdiction. “There is a fundamental disconnect between the identified problem and RIAA’s proposed cure,” Sirius said. Ironically, that put Sirius in the same corner as the NAB, with which it has had serious disagreements on other issues - - most recently the broadcasters’ petition seeking a ruling on whether the satellite radio providers should be barred from transmitting local traffic and weather reports to their subscribers.