The US Copyright Office has warned that the FCC's proposed reform of pay-TV distribution could interfere with the rights of copyright holders to license their material. The FCC has proposed requiring pay-TV providers to make available programming and associated information to third parties, for distribution on alternative hardware or internet-based software systems, hence ending the 'lock' on consumers of proprietary set-top boxes. The programming would be protected by an independently licensed security standard.
The Copyright Office said it was consulted by the FCC as part of developing its proposal, in order to assess the impact on copyright law. The Office said its main concern was that the FCC plans would restrict the rights of copyright holders to license their works and impose conditions on pay-TV distributors for the use of the works. The third parties obtaining the content from pay-TV providers would not be subject to the same terms as the pay-TV providers, nor would the copyright holders receive compensation for the use of their works by the third parties. While this could be allowed under current copyright law if the third parties were only providing "passive" use of the programming, the FCC's proposal allows for repackaging of the content so third parties can also monetise the material.
The Copyright Office issued that statement at the request of four members of Congress seeking input on the FCC proposal. The Office noted that the FCC said already at a Congressional hearing in July that it was considering amending the proposal to take into account the copyright concerns, and alternative models showed promise.
