Here’s a brief follow-up to our August 4, 2025 report on an announcement by pool administrator Access Advance on an upcoming rate increase:
Access Advance, which didn’t rule out a further extension at the time, has now extended the early-bird period until June 30, 2026 for those who wish to secure the current rates through 2030. The press release quotes Access Advance CEO Peter Moller as saying the firm’s licensors “recognized that the end of 2025 came with many important changes to the HEVC/VVC licensing landscape.” Without explicitly mentioning it, this appears to relate primarily to the recently announced acquisition of Via’s High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC, H.265) and Versatile Video Coding (VVC, H.266) pools. Also, Access Advance generally reported a very successful fourth quarter (January 22, 2026 ip fray article).
The invitation relates to either format, but also the Multi-Codec Briding Agreement (MCBA). After the early-bird period, rates will go up by 25%.
For some reason, Meta opted for litigation rather than securing the current prices.