Broadcasters agree to $12.5 million plea bargain over payola
In a pair of agreements disclosed Monday, U.S.
broadcasters…[agreed] to pay a landmark penalty and [pledged] to play more
music from independent recording artists.
Radio broadcasters have long been accused of corrupting the public airwaves by accepting bribes from corporate music giants. In a pair of agreements disclosed Monday, U.S. broadcasters…[agreed] to pay a landmark penalty and [pledged] to play more music from independent recording artists.
Under a tentative settlement with the Federal Communications Commission, four of the largest radio station owners have agreed to pay a total of $12.5 million to resolve claims that they accepted cash and other incentives in exchange for playing songs — a practice popularly known as payola.
The payola penalty, which would come as part of a consent decree with the radio companies — Clear Channel Communications, CBS Radio, Entercom Communications and Citadel Broadcasting — would reflect perhaps the toughest Federal Communications Commission enforcement of the decades-old regulations that prohibit broadcasters from taking secret payments in exchange for playing specific songs. Critics have accused the agency of lax enforcement.
Compared with the settlements extracted by Eliot Spitzer, when NY State AG, the commission settlement “basically lets the four biggest companies off the hook for peanuts.”
Let’s face it, this crowd of sleazy profiteers, the RIAA and MPAA — plus the FCC commissioners — will all be playing golf together this weekend, as usual.
Posted: Tue - March 6, 2007 at 09:13 AM