Full FCC Rejects ASCAP Recon Petions, Upholds Pandora's Buy of KXMZ(FM) Box Elder

The full FCC unanimously rejected two petitions for reconsideration filed by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) against Media Bureau decisions that led to the approval of online radio service Pandora’s buy of KXMZ(FM) Box Elder, South Dakota (see 1506020035), said a recon order approved Thursday as part of the commission’s consent agenda. “None of ASCAP’s arguments on the merits warrants reconsideration or review of the Bureau’s order,” the FCC said. ASCAP appealed both a declaratory ruling that allowed Pandora to buy the station without establishing that it was less than 25 percent foreign owned, and the FCC approval of the transfer of license. The buy of KXMZ was intended to allow Pandora to qualify for music rights at the same rates enjoyed by broadcasters, and that is why ASCAP objected to the rulings. The FCC upheld the bureau’s decision that ASCAP doesn’t have the standing to object to Pandora’s purchase of the station, and rejected ASCAP's argument that the declaratory ruling on foreign ownership hadn’t considered the public interest ramifications of allowing Pandora to buy the station. “The future of the collective music licensing system is not a relevant public interest factor” to the FCC’s analysis of Pandora as a prospective licensee, the order said, and, “in any case, is a question that is more appropriately resolved by Congress, the courts, and government agencies with expertise in this area."