SESAC, Inc.
Analysis Group has worked on numerous projects for the performing rights organization SESAC, Inc., including an arbitration and antitrust litigation.
In an arbitration proceeding to determine the blanket license value and terms of a per program license for the local broadcast television industry from 2005 through 2007, Analysis Group was retained by counsel for SESAC to estimate the value of music broadcast on non-network television. Our academic affiliates Judith Chevalier, the William S. Beinecke Professor of Finance and Economics at Yale University, and Professor Robert Hall, the Robert and Carole McNeil Hoover Senior Fellow and Professor of Economics at Stanford University, testified on behalf of SESAC at the arbitration, as did Managing Principal Steven Herscovici. Professor Chevalier testified on economic aspects of offering stations the choice of a blanket and per program license; Professor Hall testified on the aggregate value of music on local television; and Dr. Herscovici testified on trends in SESAC’s share of music on television.
In an antitrust case, SESAC, Inc. v. WPNT, Inc. et al., SESAC, which collects and distributes royalties for composers, sued WPNT, a radio station holding company, for copyright infringement and was sued in an antitrust counterclaim. Analysis Group was retained by counsel to SESAC to examine the relevant product market in which SESAC operates. Our team, led by Managing Principal Steve Herscovici, analyzed the degree to which radio stations can substitute SESAC music for music licensed by other performing rights organizations. The antitrust claim against SESAC was dismissed.