NPR goes public in fight to save Internet broadcasting

NPR and PBS are joining forces to persuade Congress to protect Internet radio from sharply higher fees imposed by a copyright panel. They've set up a Web site to encourage members of the public to contact their elected officials. Snippet:

Public radio music webcasting is in immediate danger. The recent ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) exposes public radio stations that stream their musical content to huge increases in royalty payments and threatens to drastically curtail the programming diversity found on public broadcasting websites. This decision treats public broadcasters the same as commercial entities and saddles public radio stations with inappropriate and unachievable requirements.

Additionally, because the CRB's decision requires public radio stations to pay royalties on a per song/per listener basis, it directly contradicts public radio's public service obligations and mission. In a very direct way, the CRB decision penalizes public radio stations for their service to the public. The more of the American population we reach, the larger the royalty payments.

Artists, listeners, and public radio webcasters have joined together to help preserve our public service. We strongly believe in compensating artists, but public radio music webcasting as we know it cannot survive under the new rules. As it stands now, royalty rates for webcasters will increase drastically come July 15th and will be retroactive to Jan 1, 2006!