MLB Asks Congress to Get Rid of Compulsory Licenses

Major League Baseball is asking Congress to get rid of the compulsory license that allows satellite operators (and cable operators) to import network affiliated TV station signals without the consent of the copyright holders of content on those stations, content like MLB baseball games on local TV stations and Fox network's national contract.

According to the prepared testimony of MLB attorney Robert Garrett for the Sept 10 House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on satellite TV regulations, the satellite compulsory license, and cable's similar license, "divest baseball of any ability to negotiate with satellite carriers and cable systems over the terms on which those services commercially exploit broadcasts of MLB games." MLB calls the licenses unfair, an impediment to the free marketplace, and an administrative cost burden on baseball.