Protecting the Rights of Musicians Act
Protecting the Rights of Musicians Act
Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to deny a television broadcast station the right to consent to retransmissions of the station's signal by cable systems or other multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) if the licensee of such station is also the licensee of an AM or FM radio broadcast station that has transmitted a sound recording over such radio station without providing compensation for all programming carried over the signal. (Under current law, retransmission consent requirements prohibit cable systems or other MVPDs from retransmitting the signal of a television broadcasting station without the station's consent, which is generally obtained through a retransmission consent agreement under which the cable system or MVPD provides a negotiated payment or other consideration to the station in exchange for retransmission authority.)
Prohibits the Federal Communications Commission from requiring mobile devices (with computing and communications functionality) to be equipped with a tuner for receiving the signals of AM or FM radio broadcast stations.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.