Mass Communications Law - Early History, The Fcc, Cable Tv And The "must Carry" Law, Procedure For Obtaining A License
radio government federal entertainment
A body of primarily federal statutes, regulations, and judicial decisions that govern radio; broadcast, cable, and satellite television; and other means of electronic communication.
Since the introduction of the radio in the early twentieth century, sophisticated technological devices have been developed to facilitate the transmission of ideas, information, and entertainment throughout the United States and the world. The federal government has taken an active role in regulating the means of communication that involve the interstate transmittal of information. Government regulation was needed in order to create a coherent plan for radio and television broadcasting and to ensure that these facilities are used responsibly. The passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-104, 110 Stat. 56, however, signals a decline in government regulation. This massive deregulation allows companies involved with mass communications to compete and to combine more freely.
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By the mid 1920s, commercial radio stations were operating, and the secretary of commerce set aside frequencies for commercial application. The regulatory powers of the secretary were uncertain because the secretary was authorized under law only to record applications and to grant frequencies. The Federal Radio Commission was created in 1927 to assign applicants designated frequencies under specif…
The FCC establishes the requirements for the licensing of stations and sets up a framework that tries to ensure some competition for licenses. It allows the free market to determine such matters as advertising costs, expenses, cost of equipment, and choice of programming by broadcasters. In addition to regulating commercial and educational broadcasting, the FCC has pervasive power to govern nonbro…
Congress replied in the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 (47 U.S.C.A. § 151 et seq.), providing that cable systems with twelve or fewer channels must carry at least three local broadcast signals and that larger systems must carry all local signals up to a maximum of one-third of the system's total number of channels. Turner Broadcasting System, a leadi…
A license can be granted without a hearing. Where there are substantial and material questions of fact, or the FCC does not find that the issuance of a license would be in the public interest, a hearing must be held to review the application. Other broadcast stations might intervene in the application process, particularly where a grant of a license to another applicant could affect their licenses…
Although the primary responsibility of the FCC is the licensing of broadcasting stations, it also regulates, to a certain extent, the manner in which stations operate. Political Broadcasts Congress has long recognized the potential of using various broadcast media to influence the outcome of an election. A candidate with access to broadcasting facilities has a greater chance of reaching more voter…
Cable television has grown tremendously since the 1980s. By 1996, it was available to more than 96 percent of U.S. homes, and 60 percent were subscribers to cable. Cable originally served communities in mountainous regions that had difficulty receiving broadcast transmissions. Many communities solved this problem by erecting tall receiving towers at the highest point in the area to capture broadca…
The development of satellite, direct broadcast television, broadband Internet access, and wireless technologies, along with the continued development of other Internet technologies, has demonstrated the continued vitality of electronic communications technologies. The 1996 act moved toward deregulation and competition as ways of exploring the new and emerging vehicles of mass communications. The F…
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