The purpose of this part is to implement certain provisions of the American Television and Radio Archives Act, 2 U.S.C. 170. Specifically, this part prescribes rules pertaining to the reproduction, compilation, and distribution by the Library of Congress, under section 170(b) of title 2 of the United States Code, of television and radio transmission programs consisting of regularly scheduled newscasts or on-the-spot coverage of news events.

Section 170(b) of Title 2 authorizes the Librarian, with respect to a transmission program which consists of a regularly scheduled newscast or on-the-spot coverage of news events, to prescribe by regulation standards and conditions to reproduce, compile, and distribute such a program as more particularly specified in the statute.

For purposes of this part:

(a) The terms copies, fixed, phonorecords and transmission program, and their variant forms, have the meanings given to them in section 101 of title 17 of the United States Code. For the purpose of this part, the term transmission includes transmission via the Internet, cable, broadcasting, and satellite systems, and via any other existing or future devices or processes for the communication of a performance or display whereby images or sounds are received beyond the place from which they are sent. 17 U.S.C. 101; H.R. Rep. No. 94-1476, at 64 (1976).

(b) The term regularly scheduled newscasts means transmission programs in any format that report on current events, regardless of quality, subject matter, or significance, and that air on a periodic basis, (including but not limited to daily, weekly, or quarterly), or on an occasional basis, but not on a special, one-time basis. The term on-the-spot coverage of news events refers to transmission programs in any format that report on reasonably recent current events, regardless of quality, subject matter, or significance, and that are aired in a timely manner but not necessarily contemporaneously with the recording of the events.

(c) The term staff for the purpose of this part includes both Library employees and contractors.

(a) Library of Congress staff acting under the general authority of the Librarian of Congress may reproduce fixations of television and radio transmission programs consisting of regularly scheduled newscasts or on-the-spot coverage of news events directly from transmissions to the public in the United States in accordance with section 170(b) of title 2 of the United States Code. Recording may be accomplished in the same or another tangible form as the original transmission. The choice of programs selected for recording will be made consistent with the purpose of, and based on the criteria set forth in, the American Television and Radio Archives Act at 2 U.S.C. 170(a), and on Library of Congress acquisition policies in effect at the time of recording.

(b) Specific notice of an intent to copy a transmission program will ordinarily not be given. In general, the Library of Congress will seek to copy off-the-air selected portions of the programming transmitted by both noncommercial educational broadcast stations as defined in section 397 of title 47 of the United States Code, and by commercial broadcast stations. Upon written request addressed to the Chief, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division by a broadcast station or other owner of the right of transmission, the Library of Congress will inform the requestor whether a particular transmission program has been copied by the Library.

(a) All copies and phonorecords acquired under this part will be maintained by the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division of the Library of Congress. The Library may make such copies or phonorecords of a program as are necessary for purposes of preservation, security, and, as specified in § 705.7, distribution.

(b) To the extent that the Library of Congress's use of copies and phonorecords acquired under this part is not subject to the provisions of the American Television and Radio Archives Act (section 170 of title 2 of the United States Code) and this part, such use shall be subject to the restrictions concerning copying and access found in Library of Congress Regulation 818-17, “Policies Governing the Use and Availability of Motion Pictures and Other Audiovisual Works in the Collections of the Library of Congress,” and Library of Congress Regulation 818-18.1, “Recorded Sound Listening and Duplication Services” available from the Office of the General Counsel, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540-1050. Such use shall also be governed by the Copyright Act of 1976, as amended.

(a) Library of Congress staff acting under the general authority of the Librarian of Congress may compile, without abridgement or any other editing, portions of recordings created pursuant to § 705.4 according to subject matter, and may reproduce such compilations for purposes of preservation, security, or distribution as permitted under § 705.7 below.

(b) Compilations shall be organized, to the greatest extent possible, in chronological order, and shall include the entirety of any particular news segment.

(c) No compilation by the Librarian shall be deemed for any purpose or proceeding to be an official determination of the subject matter covered by such compilation.

(a) Library staff acting under the general authority of the Librarian of Congress may distribute a reproduction of a transmission program or a compilation of transmission programs made under this part, by loan to a researcher, provided that the researcher indicates the particular segments of the news broadcasts or compilations that he or she wishes to review, on the basis of an index or other finding aid prepared by the Librarian; and for deposit in a library or archives which meets the requirements of section 108(a) of title 17 of the United States Code.

(b) Library staff will advise all recipients of such reproductions that such distribution shall be only for the purposes of research and not for further reproduction or performance, and that any use in excess of that permitted by the American Television and Radio Archives Act (section 170 of title 2 of the United States Code), title 17 of the United States Code, and this part may violate copyrights or other rights.

(a) The Library of Congress may, at its sole discretion, enter into an agreement whereby the provision of copies or phonorecords of transmission programs of regularly scheduled newscasts or on-the-spot coverage of news events on terms different from those contained in this part is authorized.

(b) Any such agreement may be terminated without notice by the Library of Congress.