Free market will get top video content streamed on Web without intervention from Congress, content companies told House hearing. No legislation to create compulsory copyright license for Internet is contemplated this year, Courts Subcommittee Chmn. Coble (R- N.C.) said, so industry will have time to prove one isn't necessary. Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters said: "I can't believe we're going to get there [needing to pass a law], that the marketplace isn't going to work."

"Webcasters must be able to Webcast the latest and greatest," ranking Democrat Berman (Cal.) said, but he criticized compulsory licenses in other industries and said he had no desire to bring them into another, particularly since they would apply only to broadcast networks and superstations and not to other critical content. Copyright Office has "consistently opposed" Internet license since it first was asked to study issue in 1997, Peters said, and "nothing has changed in the last 3 years." She said that while she's not fan of cable and satellite licenses, those systems provide "means of delivering broadcast signals that copyright owners cannot practicably do themselves," but content owners are capable of Webcasting their own material without extensive investment in infrastructure. Digital Media Assn. Exec. Dir. Jonathan Potter said cable and Internet were converging and should follow same rules, but Peters said that would be "premature."

Major League Baseball has licensed Webcaster for audio streaming of almost all games, and could work similar one for video "either this season or before the start of next season," Commissioner's Office Gen. Counsel Thomas Ostertag said. He said baseball owners have voted to centralize all Internet video rights on central site, so it's important not to let them be split up regionally through carriage of local broadcast stations. NAB Pres. Edward Fritts said many stations are streaming their local TV programs, but under questioning from Rep. Boucher (D-Va.) was unable to provide figures. Boucher also criticized music labels for not putting "hits" on the Web, instead making available only older or obscure tracks. "If they don't do it, they will drive more and more customers to Napster," Boucher said, referring to embattled music-sharing company. Recording Industry of America Assn. (RIAA) Pres. Hilary Rosen said "almost all our large companies are actively developing an online business."