2025-21694: Cost of Living Adjustment to Satellite Carrier Compulsory License Royalty Rates

Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 228 (Monday, December 1, 2025) [Federal Register Volume 90, Number 228 (Monday, December 1, 2025)] [Rules and Regulations] [Page 55045] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 2025-21694] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Copyright Royalty Board 37 CFR Part 386 [Docket No. 25-CRB-0011-SA COLA (2026)] Cost of Living Adjustment to Satellite Carrier Compulsory License Royalty Rates

Agency

Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), Library of Congress.

Action

Final rule; cost of living adjustment. -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Summary

The Copyright Royalty Judges announce a cost of living adjustment (COLA) of 2.9% in the royalty rates satellite carriers pay for a compulsory license under the Copyright Act. The COLA is based on the change in the Consumer Price Index from October 2024 to September 2025.

Dates

Effective date: December 1, 2025. Applicability dates: These rates are applicable to the period January 1, 2026, through December 31, 2026.

For Further Information Contact

Anita Brown, CRB Program Specialist, (202) 707-7658, [email protected].

Supplementary Information

The satellite carrier compulsory license establishes a statutory copyright licensing scheme for the distant retransmission of television programming by satellite carriers. 17 U.S.C. 119. Congress created the license in 1988 and reauthorized the license for additional five-year periods until 2019 when it made the license permanent.\1\ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \1\ The most recent five-year reauthorization was pursuant to the STELA Reauthorization Act of 2014, Public Law 113-200. The license was made permanent by the Satellite Television Community Protection and Promotion Act of 2019, Public Law 116-94, div. P, title XI, Sec. 1102(a), (c)(1), 133 Stat. 3201, 3203. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- On August 31, 2010, the Copyright Royalty Judges (Judges) adopted rates for the section 119 compulsory license for the 2010-2014 term. See 75 FR 53198. The rates were proposed by Copyright Owners and Satellite Carriers \2\ and were unopposed. Id. Section 119(c)(2) of the Copyright Act provides that, effective January 1 of each year, the Judges shall adjust the royalty fee payable under section 119(b)(1)(B) ``to reflect any changes occurring in the cost of living as determined by the most recent Consumer Price Index (for all consumers and for all items) [CPI-U] published by the Secretary of Labor before December 1 of the preceding year.'' Section 119 also requires that ``[n]otification of the adjusted fees shall be published in the Federal Register at least 25 days before January 1.'' 17 U.S.C. 119(c)(2). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \2\ Program Suppliers and Joint Sports Claimants comprised the Copyright Owners while DIRECTV, Inc., DISH Network, LLC, and National Programming Service, LLC, comprised the Satellite Carriers. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The change in the cost of living as determined by the CPI-U during the period from the most recent index published before December 1, 2024, to the most recent index published before December 1, 2025, is 2.9%.\3\ Application of the 2.9% COLA to the current rate for the secondary transmission of broadcast stations by satellite carriers for private home viewing--36 cents per subscriber per month--results in a rate of 37 cents per subscriber per month (rounded to the nearest cent). See 37 CFR 386.2(b)(1). Application of the 2.9% COLA to the current rate for viewing in commercial establishments--74 cents per subscriber per month--results in a rate of 76 cents per subscriber per month (rounded to the nearest cent). See 37 CFR 386.2(b)(2). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \3\ The CPI-U announced on October 24, 2025, by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in its Consumer Price Index News Release--Consumer Price Index, is available at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cpi.pdf at Table 1 (last viewed Nov. 25, 2025). The Copyright Royalty Judges note that the October 24, 2025, publication is the most recent CPI-U published by the Secretary of Labor before December 1 of the preceding year of this COLA adjustment (i.e. 2026). The Bureau of Labor statistics has explained ``BLS could not collect October 2025 reference period survey data due to a lapse in appropriations.'' See https://www.bls.gov/bls/2025-lapse-revised-release-dates.htm. The change in the cost of living during the period from the most recent index published prior to the previous notice to the most recent index published prior to December 1 of this year i.e. the change from October 2024 to September 2025 is 2.9% ((324.800-315.664)/315.664). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- List of Subjects in 37 CFR Part 386 Copyright, Satellite, Television. Final Regulations In consideration of the foregoing, the Judges amend part 386 of title 37 of the Code of Federal Regulations as follows: PART 386--ADJUSTMENT OF ROYALTY FEES FOR SECONDARY TRANSMISSIONS BY SATELLITE CARRIERS 0