As the Senate Appropriations Committee meets this week, funding for public broadcasting and music licensing on the Internet will be two of the main topics that are up for debate. Public broadcasting executives are scheduled to defend their funding today, says the Hollywood Reporter, and they will try to convince the Senate to restore some of the money that was cut by the House Appropriations Committee. The House Committee had slashed funding for the Corporation For Public Broadcasting (CPB) by 25 percent, taking $100 million from the budget. It also cut $45 million for PBS' conversion to digital TV and $40 million to update PBS' satellite delivery system. The full House restored $100 million in cuts. However, the Senate typically has been more receptive to public broadcasting than the House, and Association Of Public Television Stations President and CEO John Lawson said he expects that trend to continue, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Meanwhile, the Senate Judiciary Committee's copyright subcommittee will hold a hearing regarding music licensing on the Internet. Online subscription services have complained about the difficulty of getting licenses for music, and music publishers have been hesitant about the idea of a blanket license because they feel it would undercut the payments that would be made to their companies. However, in March, National Music Publishers Association President and CEO David Israelite told the House Judiciary Committee's copyright subcommittee that publishers were willing to consider a blanket license for many new forms of music delivery.

"We're willing to consider everything between the goal posts of radio and pure sale," Israelite said, according to the Hollywood Reporter. "Everything under the umbrella of subscription services."