July 8, 2002

BMI AND VIACOM FINALIZE CABLE MUSIC ROYALTY DEAL

Press Release

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NEW YORK, July 8, 2002 – Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) today announced that it has reached an agreement on final license fees for the public performance of the BMI repertoire on Viacom’s cable television networks.
In announcing the pact, John Shaker, BMI Senior Vice President, Licensing, said: “We’re pleased that we have been able to reach an equitable agreement with Viacom on behalf of BMI’s approximately 300,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. With this accord, writers and publishers represented by BMI will be guaranteed a stable source of income for the performance of their works on Viacom’s cable networks through 2005.”
The new contract covers Viacom’s cable TV networks, including MTV, VH1, Showtime, The Movie Channel, Flix, Sundance Channel, MTV2, MTV Latin America, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, TV Land, TNN (The National Network), CMT (Country Music Television), BET (Black Entertainment Television), BET on Jazz, and the MTV Suite of digital networks (MTV Hits, MTV Jams, MTV Español [also known as MTVS], Noggin, GAS, Nicktoons TV, Nick Too, VH1 Classic, VH1 Soul, VH1 Country, VH1 Mega Hits, and VH Uno).
The Viacom deal is the most recent final cable pact BMI has reached. In addition to other cable network deals, BMI had previously signed a final license agreement with Turner Broadcasting System Inc. in October 2001 that covered all of the Turner cable TV networks including TBS, TNT, CNN and the Cartoon Network.
BMI is a not-for-profit performing rights organization that represents approximately 300,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers from around the world and in all areas of music. With a repertoire of approximately 4.5 million musical works, BMI collects license fees from businesses and media and distributes those fees as royalties to the music creators it represents.
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Contacts:
Pat Baird
212-830-2528
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Jerry Bailey
615-401-2825
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Hanna Bolte
310-289-6328
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