Supreme Court Delivers Blow To Religious Broadcasters

This is a major setback.

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a case brought by the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) regarding a new rate system imposed by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) on noncommercial religious webcasters. This decision, announced in an orders list on Monday, upholds a prior ruling from the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

At the heart of the dispute is the CRB’s Final Determination setting rates and terms for webcasters from 2021 to 2025, which NRB argued unfairly disadvantages religious webcasters compared to secular entities. Represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), NRB contended that the rate structure imposed by the CRB violated federal law and constitutional protections.

John Bursch, Senior Counsel at ADF, criticized the disparity, highlighting that noncommercial religious broadcasters face a license fee more than 18 times higher than secular counterparts like NPR, particularly above a modest listener threshold. This financial burden, according to Bursch, severely restricts the ability of religious stations to expand their online presence and reach a broader audience with religious messages.

In July 2023, the D.C. Appeals Court upheld the CRB’s decision, asserting that the board had appropriately exercised its discretion in setting the rates. The court rejected arguments for separate, lower rates for religious webcasters, citing evidence of increased administrative costs and general inflation as factors justifying the CRB’s establishment of a minimum fee.

Following the appeals court’s ruling, NRB filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court in February, urging the justices to intervene. The petition argued that the CRB’s rate-setting decisions not only violated economic fairness but also infringed upon religious freedoms guaranteed under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the First Amendment.