SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Each year satellite providers must submit royalty payments to the Register of Copyrights as required by the statutory license detailed in section 119 of the Copyright Act for the retransmission to satellite subscribers of over-the-air television broadcast signals. See17 U.S.C. 119(b). The Copyright Royalty Judges (Judges) oversee distribution of royalties to copyright owners whose works were included in a qualifying transmission and who timely filed a claim for royalties.

Allocation of the royalties collected occurs in one of two ways. In the first instance, the Judges may authorize distribution in accordance with a negotiated agreement among all claiming parties. 17 U.S.C. 119(b)(5)(A), 801(b)(3)(A). If all claimants do not reach an agreement with respect to the royalties, the Judges must conduct a proceeding to determine the distribution of any royalties that remain in controversy. 17 U.S.C. 119(b)(5)(B), 801(b)(3)(B). Alternatively, the Judges may, on motion of claimants and on notice to all interested parties, authorize a partial distribution of royalties, reserving on deposit sufficient funds to ( printed page 21286) resolve identified disputes. 17 U.S.C. 119(b)(5)(C), 801(b)(3)(C).

On March 12, 2024, representatives of all the Allocation Phase Parties claimant categories ^[1] filed with the Judges a motion pursuant to section 801(b)(3)(C) of the Copyright Act requesting a partial distribution amounting to 40% of the 2021 satellite royalty funds on deposit. That statutory section requires that, before ruling on the motion, the Judges publish a notice in the Federal Register seeking responses to the motion for partial distribution to ascertain whether any claimant entitled to receive the subject royalties has a reasonable objection to the requested distribution. 17 U.S.C. 801(b)(3)(C).

Accordingly, this notice seeks comments from interested claimants on whether any reasonable objection exists that would preclude the distribution of the requested amounts of the 2021 satellite royalty funds to the Allocation Phase Parties. Parties objecting to the proposed partial distribution must advise the Judges of the existence and extent of all objections by the end of the comment period. The Judges will not consider any objections with respect to the partial distribution that come to their attention after the close of the comment period.

Members of the public may read the motion by accessing the Copyright Royalty Board's electronic filing and case management system at https://app.crb.gov and searching for docket number 22-CRB-0006-SD (2021).

89 FR 21285