July, 2009

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A Full Five Person FCC - What's Next For Broadcasters?

Broadcast Law Blog

For the first time since the term of FCC Commissioner Tate expired and Chairman Martin resigned, the FCC will be back to full strength with the Senate's approval of new FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Meredith Attwell Baker. What issues of importance to broadcasters will the Commission, now headed by Chairman Julius Genachowski , take up in coming months?

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Obama Seeks Support for Health Care Bill

The Paralegal Resource

President Barack Obama sought to rally support for sweeping health care legislation on night on July 22 as Congress struggled to find agreement on a historic overhaul. He vowed to reject any measure "primarily funded through taxing middle-class families." Obama defended his decision to set a midsummer deadline for the House and Senate to act. "I'm rushed because I get letters every day from families that are being clobbered by health care costs, and they ask me can you help," he said.

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Pureplay Webcasters and SoundExchange Enter Into Deal Under Webcaster Settlement Act to Offer Internet Radio Royalty Rate Alternative for 2006-2015

Broadcast Law Blog

A settlement under the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2009 was signed today by SoundExchange and a group of webcasters that I represented in the Copyright Royalty Board proceeding to determine the royalty rates for the use of sound recordings by Internet Radio stations for the period from 2006-2010. This agreement is for “ pureplay” webcasters , i.e. those that are willing to include their entire gross revenue in a percentage of revenue calculation to determine their royalties.

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The Potential for the Return of the Fariness Doctrine and the FCC's Assessment of the Quality of Broadcast News - What Would Walter Cronkite Think?

Broadcast Law Blog

With much of the media world celebrating the life of Walter Cronkite this weekend, we have to wonder what he would have thought about press reports that the FCC is considering the commencement of a proceeding to investigate the status of broadcast journalism - assessing its quality, determining whether the Internet and other new sources are making up for any quality that is lost, and potentially deciding to mandate specific amounts of news coverage by broadcast stations.

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Transforming eDiscovery: Document Summarization, Sentiment Analysis, And Chatbots Take Center Stage

A Synergistic Approach to eDiscovery In the space of eDiscovery, the convergence of document summarization, sentiment analysis, and chatbots represents a significant change in how legal professionals navigate and manage electronic information. These technologies not only expedite the review process but also empower legal teams with deeper insights into the emotional context and key information within electronic documents.

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Broadcast Stations Going Dark - Issues to Think About

Broadcast Law Blog

Each day, there seems to be a report about broadcast stations going off the air because of the current economic downturn - some permanently (witness several Montana full-power television stations formerly owned by Equity Broadcasting whose licenses were surrendered two weeks ago), some temporary, and some being given away to charity (like Clear Channel's announcement of its donation of 4 AM stations to the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council ).

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More Trending

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SoundExchange Announces 4 More Settlements Under Webcaster Settlement Act - Sirius, College and Religious Noncommercial Broadcasters and a Group to be Named Later

Broadcast Law Blog

SoundExchange has posted on its website this afternoon four press releases announcing new settlements of amounts due for Internet radio music royalties. These settlements were negotiated under the provisions of the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2009. The announcement lists settlements with two noncommercial groups representing College Broadcasters and noncommercial religious broadcasters , as well as a deal with Sirius XM for their streaming of music.

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FCC Announces Annual Regulatory Fees - Payment Deadlines Not Yet Set

Broadcast Law Blog

The FCC has released its Order setting the amounts of the annual regulatory fees for broadcasters - though the window for making those payments has not yet been set. Look for that window to be set in the near future, as payments will probably be due in September. Broadcast fees are based on the class of facility and the population covered by the station.

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FCC Chairman Confirms Proceeding to Review the State of Journalism, And Expresses Views on Content Regulation

Broadcast Law Blog

An interview with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has just been released by Broadcasting and Cable magazine. In that interview, the Chairman confirms press reports (which we cited here ) that there is a planned FCC Notice of Inquiry to look into the news media in the digital world - the first public confirmation of this inquiry from on-the-record FCC sources that I've seen.

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Health Policy Ads on Broadcast Stations - Remember Your Public File Obligations

Broadcast Law Blog

A story in today's Wall Street Journal discusses the significant amount of money being spent on television advertising for and against pending proposals for health care reform. As we have written before, broadcasters are required to keep in their public file information about advertising dealing with Federal issues - records as detailed as those kept for political candidates.

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Recipe for a Failed CLM Implementation

Selecting and implementing CLM technology can be daunting, leading to underutilization or abandonment. Factors like provider differentiation, inadequate planning, and lack of user training contribute to these failures. Recognizing these pitfalls is crucial for successful adoption, ensuring organizations harness the full potential of CLM for streamlined contract management.

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Types of Expert Witnesses and Why Having a Specialization is Important

The Paralegal Resource

An expert witness is someone who works in a particular profession and they are considered an expert in their field. The lawyers who hire expert witnesses to testify for their side may ask a series of questions to determine if the expert witness is the best one for them. This individual must have more knowledge in their field than the average individual in order to be considered an expert.

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Trial Preparation

The Paralegal Resource

Trial preparation can be most invigorating, but also very frustrating. In the end, when the pieces of the puzzle all begin to fit together the feeling is exhilarating because your efforts and handling of the matter have made the trial a successful event. The outcome is another story. The hard work and preparation is finally ready for the scheduled trial date.

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Internet Research Basics

The Paralegal Resource

The Internet is a vast public broadcast medium composed of an infrastructure of millions of cables and computers made up of a combination of several smaller digital "subnetworks" that share those cables and computers. Within this network are contained the following components.

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Pureplay Webcasters Settlement Agreement Published In Federal Register - 30 Days for Webcasters to Make a Choice

Broadcast Law Blog

The Pureplay Webcasters settlement agreement, which we summarized here , was published in the Federal Register on Friday, starting the 30 day clock running for the election of the deal by existing webcasters. While this deal offers better per performance rates to large webcasters than offered by the rates established by the Copyright Royalty Board, and higher permissible listening levels to Small Commercial Pureplay webcasters than allowed under the Microcaster deal, this option still is not for

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Contract Lifecycle Management: A Business Enabler Exploring On-Ground Challenges

CLM tools have always strived to push contract management into the digital age for almost 30 years. But the complexities of digitising a legal document are numerous. The current scenarios in business development have shown that having a fully automated CLM has become a mandate for every law firm and in-house legal department. To determine if you need a CLM system, it's essential to clearly identify the on-ground business challenges you aim to solve.

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Factors Inhibiting Confessions and Admissions in the Interview Process

The Paralegal Resource

When we interview someone, we must take into consideration the factors which may prevent, or at least hinder, obtaining an admission and/or confession. First of all, we must place ourselves into the role of the person about to be interviewed. This is not always easy. We tend to be goal oriented and far too often are in a hurry, which leads to overlooking some of the nuances of the rapport building phase of the interview.

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Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act Expands the False Claims Act

The Paralegal Resource

Reacting to the Wall Street scandals and a recent Supreme Court decision, Congress expanded the tools available to the federal government to combat financial fraud by contractors and fund recipients with the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009 ("FERA"). Signed into law on May 20, 2009, FERA clarifies that the False Claims Act ("FCA") reaches the Troubled Asset Relief Program ("TARP") and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ("ARRA").

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Supreme Court Issues Employer-Friendly ADEA Ruling

The Paralegal Resource

June 18, 2209, in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that an employee alleging a disparate treatment claim under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) must prove that age was the “but for” cause of the challenged adverse employment action. Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the majority, ruled that even where the employee has produced evidence that age was one motivating factor in that decision the burden of persuasion does not shift to the employer to show that

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Supreme Court Issues Favorable Ruling for White Firefighters in Reverse Discrimination Case

The Paralegal Resource

Query: May an employer make a race-based employment decision when it discovers that one of its employment tests or policies has the unintended effect of creating an adverse impact on another racial classification?

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California Civil Discovery Act Undergoes Significant Overhaul

Short article looking at the new CCP 2016.

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Court Rejects Webcaster Challenge to Copyright Royalty Board Decision on Internet Radio Royalties - And Does Not Rule on Constitutional Issue of CRB Appointment

Broadcast Law Blog

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia today released its decision for the most part rejecting the appeals of webcasters of the 2007 decision of the Copyright Royalty Board setting Internet Radio royalty rates for the use of sound recordings. The Court generally upheld the Board's decision, finding that the issues raised by the appealing parties did not show that the decision was " arbitrary and capricious " - a high standard of judicial review that the Courts accord when

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Advertising Industry Publishes Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Data Collection

Broadcast Law Blog

The Advertising industry recently published self-regulation guidelines for " behavioral advertising ," i.e. advertising that is targeted to the user based upon data regarding that user’s activities across various Web sites. The Federal Trade Commission has been urging the industry to develop such standards for some time. These practices have also attracted considerable attention on Capitol Hill.

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On-line Recruitment Not Sufficient EEO Outreach for the FCC

Broadcast Law Blog

In three cases released last week, the FCC made clear that its EEO rules, requiring wide dissemination of information about job opportunities at broadcast stations (and cable systems), are not satisfied by solely posting of information about openings on websites. Instead, the Commission required that additional outreach efforts be undertaken in order to assure that the notice of the job opening reaches all groups within a community.

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Filing Opportunity for LPTV and Translator Stations in Rural Areas Commences August 25th; Nationwide Window Opens Jan. 25, 2010

Broadcast Law Blog

This week, the FCC announced that it will begin accepting applications for new digital-only LPTV and translator stations in rural areas as of August 25, 2009. Beginning on that date, the FCC will also begin to accept applications for major changes to existing analog and digital LPTV and TV translators in rural areas, and applications for digital companion channels (DCCs) for existing analog stations in rural areas.

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Dangers of Digital "Reporting": Legal Risks and Unreliable Transcripts

In the world of legal proceedings, the choice between a certified stenographer and digital "reporting" holds significant implications. Certified stenographers go through rigorous training and testing and stand as the gold standard for accuracy in capturing every word. Their expertise ensures a reliable record, a crucial foundation for legal cases.

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100 Basic Discovery Questions and Answers for Legal Assistants

The Paralegal Resource

100 answers to the questions you should be asking as a legal professional. Can you afford not to check out this white paper? We think not.