RMLC Confirms: GMR Offering Extensions, Even in PA.

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You may recall back in July we wrote about how the RMLC had filed an injunction against GMR because the RMLC accused GMR of refusing to offer stations in Pennsylvania an extension on licenses to air GMR works. On Tuesday the RMLC confirmed that the 6-month extensions now being offered by GMR are being offered to all stations in every state. The RMLC wants stations to know they should ignore the GMR website. Here’s why…

The Radio Music License Committee said today that the Global Music Rights Organization — currently being sued by the RMLC over alleged anticompetitive behavior — will offer an interim license extension to all stations, including those owned by companies based in Pennsylvania. The RMLC’s antitrust litigation was filed in Philadelphia, and GMR’s original extension offer excluded Pennsylvania-based entities. A previous extension runs out in September; the new interim extension runs through March 2018.

The RMLC said, “After legal filings and discussions with GMR and the court, GMR has committed to the court that it would offer license extensions to all stations, including those ‘owned by companies headquartered or based in Pennsylvania.'” The RMLC earlier said it believes GMR was retaliating against the Pennsylvania stations because “it would prefer to litigate in its home court in Los Angeles” and the PA stations were helping the RMLC establish jurisdiction in the Philadelphia court.

The RMLC’s Tuesday release went on to say that “despite anything to the contrary on GMR’s website,” GMR will offer license extensions on the same terms, including price, as each station’s existing interim license.

RMLC also said it plans to continue its litigation against GMR; in November 2016, it sued over what the RMLC called “anticompetitive behavior” that has “created a bottleneck to, and artificial monopoly over, the works in [GMR’s] repertory” and claiming that GMR “has thus far managed to avoid” the rate regulation that applies to SESAC, ASCAP, and BMI. GMR filed a countersuit in December, calling the RMLC a “cartel” that keeps licensing rates artificially low.

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