Washington - The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) this week announced its support for the Internet Radio Equality Act, a bipartisan House bill that would vacate the recent music webcasting royalty rate hike.

The NAB said its "strong backing" of the bill comes after SoundExchange, the entity set up by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to collect webcasting royalties, failed to respond to an online simulcasting royalty rate proposal it submitted on June 6.

"We are disappointed by SoundExchange's continued reluctance to respond to the good-faith, reasonable offer put forth by NAB nearly two months ago," the group said in a statement.

"NAB will now turn our attention to aggressively advocating in support of Rep. Inslee's legislation to ensure that local radio broadcasters who stream content online are treated fairly."

While the new royalty rates took effect on July 15, SoundExchange has not taken steps to collect fees at the new rates while it works out new deals with webcasters -- many of whom said the new rates are so high they will be forced off the air.

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