cable

Sound recording royalties for satellite radio service SiriusXM will rise from 8% of gross revenue to 9% in 2013, and continue to grow 0.5% each year (to 11% in 2017). The Copyright Royalty Board also set the new statutory rates for cable television music services. Those rates will rise from 8% of gross revenue now to 8.5% for 2014 through 2017.

The CRB announced its determinations late Friday.

This royalty is only for copyright sound recordings (i.e. not compositions), and only for satellite transmissions or cable TV (not webcasting). Most webcasters (including satellite radio and cable television radio when they stream online) pay royalties on sound recordings at a "per-performance" rate. For even the most successful webcasters, this royalty can amount to more than 50% of a company's gross revenue.

Read the brief CRB announcement of rates here.

Comcast is reportedly testing a Pandora app for its Xfinity TV cable subscribers. Comcast's CEO said the company is also testing apps for Facebook, sports programming and other services that will be announced soon. 

Presumably this would allow Comcast subscribers to listen to Pandora streams through their TVs. Comcast is the largest cable operator in the United States, with over 22 million subscribers (according to to the National Cable & Telecommunications Association here). 

However, FierceCable reports that the new apps may only be available to certain cable boxes. Find more coverage here.