Broadcasting Oct 31 - American Radio History

activities" -and in the process managed to
relate to the agreement State's newly created
post of coordinator, which was at the heart of
much of the disagreement between the two
departments last summer. "We look to the
Senior Interagency Group " -composed of
representatives of executive branch agencies
with responsibilities in the area - "and the
Coordinator for International Communica-
tion and Information Policy as the principal
entities responsible for effective interagency
cooperation," Shultz said.
In his response, Baldrige did not comment
on the two points. But the coordinator's of-
fice retains the potential for causing conflict
between the two departments_as another ex-
change of documents between the depart-
ments indicates.
In mid- September, Shultz submitted to
Commerce a draft of a letter he intended to
send in response to a series of questions from
Should
That's question debated in Senate
over bill to tax recorders and tape
The question of whether or not copyright
holders should be compensated for indis-
criminate home taping of video and audio
works dominated a Senate panel last week.
Representatives of the motion picture and
record industries urged members of the Sen-
ate Copyright Subcommittee to support leg-
islation (S.31) which would exempt consum-
ers from copyright liability but would also
impose a manufacturers fee on home record-
ing devices and tape.
Chief spokesman for the Home Recording
Rights Coalition, former FCC Chairman
Charles Ferris, argued against the measure
and instead asked members to back a bill
(S.175) that would exclude home taping roy-
alties altogether and exempt home viewers
from copyright liability.
Copyright Subcommittee Chairman
Charles McC. Mathias (R -Md.), who intro-
duced S.31, restated his concern that copy-
right law stay in step with the new technol-
ogies. "Copyright is the product of
Senator Charles Percy (R -Ill.), chairman of
the Foreign Relations Committee, regarding
State's role in international telecommunica-
tions policy- making. On Sept. 28, Markey
wrote to Schneider expressing concern about
a number of points in the draft letter he said
conflicted with the agreement, including
several references to the coordinator's of-
fice. The fact Markey's letter was sent on the
same date as the one Baldrige wrote State
signing off on the agreement is not the only
unusual factor in the time sequence in-
volved. The Markey letter followed by a
week the dispatch of the Secretary of State's
letter to Percy.
Nevertheless, some of the points about
which Markey complained appear to have
been eliminated before the Shultz letter was
put in final form. But a description of the
coordinator's mission to which Markey had
objected did survive: "The primary mission
home taping remain free?
technological innovation. This promiscuous
copying goes beyond that," Mathias said.
He warned that the concept of intellectual
property is in danger of being destroyed.
Mathias's bill also exempts home viewers
and listeners from copyright liability and
would alter the role of the Copyright Royalty
Tribunal so that it would rely more on free
market negotiations between parties in set-
ting royalty fees for home taping.
Subcommittee member Dennis DeCon-
cini (D- Ariz.), author of S.175, disagreed
with the chairman. He maintained that the
royalty tax would be passed on to the con-
sumer. "Generally the cost of the product is
put into the price," the senator argued. "I
think it would be unfair to the consumer
when you have an industry that has other
ways to collect fees," DeConcini added.
Legislators have been reluctant to address
the home taping issue until the Supreme
Court rules on the controversial Betamax
case. Last week's hearing was the first to
focus on specific home taping legislation.
The court is expected to release a decision
this fall (BROADCASTING, July 11).
Ladd Pictured (I -r): Kay Peters, Screen Actors Guild; Udlenti, and Jack
Golodner, AFL -CIO.
Federal request. Representative Robert Garcia (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Congressional
Hispanic Caucus, sent a letter to NBC Board Chairman Grant Tinker asking the network not to
broadcast "Fort Apache, The Bronx," scheduled to air Nov 13. Garcia complained that the
film depicts Hispanics, blacks, and women living in the South Bronx in an unfavorable light.
He said the movie fails to present a balanced picture of the area. As a result of movies such
as "Fort Apache, The Bronx," audiences outside the community develop impressions which
can only translate into fears and insecurities which are detrimental to the continued redevel-
opment of the Bronx," Garcia wrote.
Broadcasting Oct 31 1983
58
of this office is to coordinate the formulation
and execution of executive branch policy in
this field." Commerce's concern has been
that State is attempting to establish, through
the coordinator's office, a primacy in inter-
national telecommunications policy making
Commerce does not believe it has. Markey
said the description of the post goes beyond
that in the Foreign Affairs Manual and "has
no basis" in the executive order creating
NTIA. He also noted that the "expansive
language...relative to other executive agen-
cies is reminiscent of language" in the State
Department's authorization bill that was not
supported by the administration and was re-
moved on the House floor.
Perhaps, one observer noted, the form of
the agreement is not the important thing.
Rather, he said, "it may be the manner in
which the participants seek to implement
it."
David Ladd, register of copyrights, fa-
vored Mathias's bill. He noted that devices
such as video recorders and audio recorders
raise new challenges to copyright law. "No
one wishes to inhibit new technologies, nor
their enjoyment by the public. Likewise, no
one wishes to diminish the incentive of
copyright, vindicated by time and exper-
ience, in America especially, by success,"
Ladd said.
He concluded that S.31 was a viable solu-
tion. That bill "represents continuation of
the historical adaptation of the copyright
law. It will allow the video and audio hard-
ware markets to grow and prosper; it will
allow the consumers to continue to enjoy
technological advances; and it will continue
that flow of reasonable revenues and com-
pensation back to copyright owners for the
use of the works that they have created,"
Ladd argued.
Mathias's bill was backed by Motion Pic-
ture Association of America President Jack
Valenti. Valenti presented the results of a
survey on home taping conducted by NPD
Electronic Media Tracking Service and Bat-
telle, Pacific Northwest Laboratory on be-
half of MPAA. Highlights of the survey
showed that at the end of 1982 there were
roughly 5.3 million videocassette recorders
in use.
The MPAA study noted that VCR owners
will make almost one billion home record-
ings per year with no compensation to copy-
right owners. According to statistics Valenti
presented, 84.2 million were made from
broadcast television in 1982.
By 1990, the MPAA chief said, 858 mil-
lion recordings will be made from broadcast
television. And by 1990, revenues to VCR
and blank tape manufacturers will exceed
$10 billion per year.
Valenti warned that the foundation of
commercial television is being threatened by
VCR users who delete commercials while
recording. The recording of television pro-
grams for later viewing (time shifting) harms
broadcasters, advertisers and copyright
owners, Valenti contended. It interferes with
viewing of "time- sensitive" advertising and
precludes advertisers from targeting their au-
diences, he reported.