Federal Court Approves Radio-Industry Settlement With BMI

Judge Louis Stanton, of the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York, today approved a settlement that ends two years of litigation between the Radio Music License Committee and BMI over the fees paid by U.S. commercial radio to play the more than 7.5 million works in the BMI repertoire through 2016. The RMLC represents the vast majority of the nation's radio stations. "This is a gratifying result for the radio industry," said Ed Christian, RMLC chairman and CEO of Saga Communications. "The new BMI license reflects the reality of our industry's economy and puts the industry back on a sound footing insofar as its licensing relationship with BMI is concerned. We appreciate the goodwill which BMI has demonstrated in working with our industry to get this resolution."