Communications Act of 1934
Encyclopedia
The Communications Act of 1934 is a United States federal law, enacted as Public Law Number 416, Act of June 19, 1934, ch. 652, 48 Stat. 1064, by the 73rd Congress, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, codified as Chapter 5 of Title 47 of the United States Code
, et seq. The Act replaced the Federal Radio Commission
with the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC). It also transferred regulation of interstate telephone
services from the Interstate Commerce Commission
to the FCC.
The stated purposes of the Act are "regulating interstate and foreign commerce in communication by wire and radio so as to make available, so far as possible, to all the people of the United States a rapid, efficient, nationwide, and worldwide wire and radio communication service with adequate facilities at reasonable charges, for the purpose of the national defense, and for the purpose of securing a more effective execution of this policy by centralizing authority theretofore granted by law to several agencies and by granting additional authority with respect to interstate and foreign commerce in wire and radio communication, there is hereby created a commission to be known as the 'Federal Communications Commission', which shall be constituted as hereinafter provided, and which shall execute and enforce the provisions of this Act."
On January 3, 1996, the 104th Congress of the United States amended or repealed sections of the Communications Act of 1934 with the new Telecommunications Act of 1996
. It was the first major overhaul of American telecommunications policy in nearly 62 years.
licensing, and of the Mann-Elkins Act of 1910 relating to telephone service.
In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
asked Daniel C. Roper, Secretary of Commerce, to appoint an interdepartmental committee for studying electronic communications. The Committee reported that "the communications service, as far as congressional action is involved, should be regulated by a single body." A recommendation was made for the establishment of a new agency that would regulate all interstate and foreign communication by wire and radio, telegraphy, telephone and broadcast. On February 26, 1934, the President sent a special message to Congress urging the creation of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The following day Senator C.C. Dill and Representative Sam Rayburn
introduced bills to carry out this recommendation. The Senate Bill (S.3285) passed the House on June 1, 1934, and the conference report was adopted by both houses eight days later. The Communications Act was signed by President Roosevelt on June 1934. Particular parts of it became effective July 1, 1934; other parts on July 11, 1934. And thus the FCC was born.
The Communications Act of 1934 followed the precedents of trial cases set under the Commerce Clause
of the US Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 3), regulating commerce "among the several states". In 1914 the Supreme Court in Houston, East & West Texas Railway Co. v. United States set limits on price discrimination that were effectively interstate commerce. The railway was setting lower prices for intrastate carriers within Texas while charging more for carriers that were going through or out of the state. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the ICC, and maximum prices were set to limit the
damage that other states could face due to price discrimination.
Communications technology was determined to be an interstate good. President Franklin Roosevelt, along with lobbyists and state regulators, wanted communications technology, both wired and wireless to be monitored in a similar way and influenced Congress to pass the Communications Act of 1934. The goal was to have telephone and broadcasting regulated with the same jurisdiction in a way similar to that in which the ICC regulates the railways and interstate commerce. The act did not, however, allow for price regulation through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) due to strong lobbying efforts from the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC).
Currently there are some challenges and proposed changes to the Act. The company CellAntenna has sued the FCC claiming that the Homeland Security Act of 2002 did override the Communications Act of 1934. As the law stands today, the 1934 Communications Act prohibits local and state law enforcement from using jamming
devices to thwart criminal and terrorist acts. CellAntenna lost their case, but as a response have supported legislation (The Safe Prisons Communications Act) sponsored by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Representative Kevin Bradley
; the bill attempting to amend the Communications Act of 1934 was left in committee in the House.
In addition, there is talk about the need for an Internet kill switch
, defined in a proposed Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act. This act removes the powers established in the 1934 Act and gives the President the authority to stop the Internet in case of a cyber attack.
of New York
and Henry Hatfield of West Virginia
offered an amendment to the then proposed Communications Act. Educators wanted more of radio to be given to them; they had been termed a "special interest" by the Federal Radio Commission and their stations were forced to share frequencies. The Wagner-Hatfield amendment
would have given 25% of all radio broadcasting facilities to non-profit institutions and organizations. It would also have allowed these educational stations to sell advertising in order to become self-sufficient. Senator C.C. Dill, a pro-industry spokesman, opposed this amendment. It would have meant eliminating numerous commercial stations, but that is not what Dill publicly complained about. He expressed horror over the advertising. He said there was too much advertising already. Not all
educators supported the advertising clause, so a compromise was struck. The issue was to be given to the new Federal Communications Commission to study and to hold hearings on and to report back to Congress. Hatfield and Wagner stuck to their guns, however, and proposed their amendment anyway. The Hatfield-Wagner amendment died and the Communications Act was passed.
The Federal Communications Commission reported back, saying that commercial stations had ample time for educational and other public service programs. The Commission called for cooperation between commercial and educational interests and other non-profit groups. The educators lost, though commercial broadcasters were forced to air public affairs programs.
, 319 U.S. 190 on May 10, 1943 that the FCC had the right to issue regulations pertaining to associations between broadcasting networks and their affiliated stations. The Opinion of the Supreme Court was not unanimous and it led to a conflict with an earlier decision in Federal Communications Commission v. Sanders Brothers Radio Station, 309 U.S. 470, on March 25, 1940.
In that case the FCC interpreted Supreme Court decisions concerning broadcasting to mean that potential economic injury to an existing licensee was not grounds for refusing to license a competitor. (This FCC interpretation remained in place from 1940 to 1958.)
The Opinion of the Supreme Court was delivered by Felix Frankfurter
. Justices Hugo Black
and Wiley Blount Rutledge
took no part in the discussion or decision. Justice Frank Murphy
offered a dissenting opinion, stating that the Court was effectively giving the FCC a power to regulate networks which had not been given to the FCC by Congress. Murphy stated that
Because the majority of the Court did not agree with Murphy it effectively gave the FCC power to regulate the networks. As a result of this 1943 decision, NBC
was forced to sell one of its two networks (its Blue Network
) and it was this action which then led to the creation of the American Broadcasting Company
Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover
played a large role regarding regulation because he issued the licenses which allocated the spectrum. Once radio broadcasting became popular, Hoover brought attention to the limited amount of frequency space the spectrum held. This problem made obtaining frequencies and airtime very difficult, as well as making "noise" on existing frequencies. Between 1923 and 1924, Hoover expanded the number of assigned frequencies to reduce the interference, but his quick fix failed which in turned ended self-regulation of spectrum space. Congress then passed the Radio Act of 1927 to create the framework for regulating the rapid growing broadcast industry.
President Coolidge was an important aspect of radio regulation by signing the Radio Act of 1927 which invested regulatory power to the Federal Radio Commission (FRC). Senators Clarence C. and Wallace White also pushed toward passing the 1927 Act. The FRC had a short 6- year term in American history and transferred its responsibility, as the agency for managing the radio spectrum, to the FCC after the Communications Act of 1934. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the bill in 1934. This change in power was needed to develop a better way of determining who got to use what radio bands and for what purposes. There were many factors and individuals that played a role in the creation of the FCC, but in the end, Congress created the agency.
and Communications Act of 1934 had two major changes: the new act was less technologically biased and offered less regulation.
This act determined the basis of media regulation by its contents, not a technological standard. Title V in Telecommunication Act of 1996, "Obscenity and Violence", is a good example of this; Title V set the standard for regulating media contents.
The Communications Act of 1934 is argued by some to have created monopolies, such as the case of AT&T case. FCC recognized AT&T as a "natural monopoly
" during the 1930s in the Communications Act of 1934. Because of these effects, the FCC designed the Communications Act 1996 “to provide for a pro-competitive, de-regulatory national policy framework designed to accelerate rapidly private sector deployment of advanced information technologies and services to all Americans by opening all telecommunications markets to competition...." The Telecommunication Act of 1996 also added and changed some rules to account for the emerging internet.
Being created at a time where there was only telephones and radio the act had very specific rules towards regulation in these markets. The act became biased as newer technologies entered the market with far less regulation.
Title 47 of the United States Code
Title 47 of the United States Code defines the role and structure of the Federal Communications Commission, an independent agency of the United States government, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, part of the United States Department of Commerce...
, et seq. The Act replaced the Federal Radio Commission
Federal Radio Commission
The Federal Radio Commission was a government body that regulated radio use in the United States from its creation in 1926 until its replacement by the Federal Communications Commission in 1934...
with the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC). It also transferred regulation of interstate telephone
Telephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
services from the Interstate Commerce Commission
Interstate Commerce Commission
The Interstate Commerce Commission was a regulatory body in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads to ensure fair rates, to eliminate rate discrimination, and to regulate other aspects of common carriers, including...
to the FCC.
The stated purposes of the Act are "regulating interstate and foreign commerce in communication by wire and radio so as to make available, so far as possible, to all the people of the United States a rapid, efficient, nationwide, and worldwide wire and radio communication service with adequate facilities at reasonable charges, for the purpose of the national defense, and for the purpose of securing a more effective execution of this policy by centralizing authority theretofore granted by law to several agencies and by granting additional authority with respect to interstate and foreign commerce in wire and radio communication, there is hereby created a commission to be known as the 'Federal Communications Commission', which shall be constituted as hereinafter provided, and which shall execute and enforce the provisions of this Act."
On January 3, 1996, the 104th Congress of the United States amended or repealed sections of the Communications Act of 1934 with the new Telecommunications Act of 1996
Telecommunications Act of 1996
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was the first major overhaul of United States telecommunications law in nearly 62 years, amending the Communications Act of 1934. This Act, signed by President Bill Clinton, was a major stepping stone towards the future of telecommunications, since this was the...
. It was the first major overhaul of American telecommunications policy in nearly 62 years.
Brief history of the Act
The Act largely combined and reorganized existing provisions of law, including provisions of the Federal Radio Act of 1927 relating to radioRadio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
licensing, and of the Mann-Elkins Act of 1910 relating to telephone service.
In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
asked Daniel C. Roper, Secretary of Commerce, to appoint an interdepartmental committee for studying electronic communications. The Committee reported that "the communications service, as far as congressional action is involved, should be regulated by a single body." A recommendation was made for the establishment of a new agency that would regulate all interstate and foreign communication by wire and radio, telegraphy, telephone and broadcast. On February 26, 1934, the President sent a special message to Congress urging the creation of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The following day Senator C.C. Dill and Representative Sam Rayburn
Sam Rayburn
Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn , often called "Mr. Sam," or "Mr. Democrat," was a Democratic lawmaker from Bonham, Texas, who served as the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives for seventeen years, the longest tenure in U.S. history.- Background :Rayburn was born in Roane County, Tennessee, and...
introduced bills to carry out this recommendation. The Senate Bill (S.3285) passed the House on June 1, 1934, and the conference report was adopted by both houses eight days later. The Communications Act was signed by President Roosevelt on June 1934. Particular parts of it became effective July 1, 1934; other parts on July 11, 1934. And thus the FCC was born.
The Communications Act of 1934 followed the precedents of trial cases set under the Commerce Clause
Commerce Clause
The Commerce Clause is an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution . The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes." Courts and commentators have tended to...
of the US Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 3), regulating commerce "among the several states". In 1914 the Supreme Court in Houston, East & West Texas Railway Co. v. United States set limits on price discrimination that were effectively interstate commerce. The railway was setting lower prices for intrastate carriers within Texas while charging more for carriers that were going through or out of the state. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the ICC, and maximum prices were set to limit the
damage that other states could face due to price discrimination.
Communications technology was determined to be an interstate good. President Franklin Roosevelt, along with lobbyists and state regulators, wanted communications technology, both wired and wireless to be monitored in a similar way and influenced Congress to pass the Communications Act of 1934. The goal was to have telephone and broadcasting regulated with the same jurisdiction in a way similar to that in which the ICC regulates the railways and interstate commerce. The act did not, however, allow for price regulation through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) due to strong lobbying efforts from the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC).
Currently there are some challenges and proposed changes to the Act. The company CellAntenna has sued the FCC claiming that the Homeland Security Act of 2002 did override the Communications Act of 1934. As the law stands today, the 1934 Communications Act prohibits local and state law enforcement from using jamming
Radio jamming
Radio jamming is the transmission of radio signals that disrupt communications by decreasing the signal to noise ratio. Unintentional jamming occurs when an operator transmits on a busy frequency without first checking whether it is in use, or without being able to hear stations using the frequency...
devices to thwart criminal and terrorist acts. CellAntenna lost their case, but as a response have supported legislation (The Safe Prisons Communications Act) sponsored by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Representative Kevin Bradley
Kevin Bradley
Kevin Bradley is a Scottish football midfielder currently playing Junior football for Pollok.-Career:Bradley signed a YTS contract with Clyde in the summer of 2003. He was given a professional contract in June 2004...
; the bill attempting to amend the Communications Act of 1934 was left in committee in the House.
In addition, there is talk about the need for an Internet kill switch
Internet kill switch
The Internet kill switch is a subset of the article kill switch which deals with mechanical and electronic switching mechanisms. This article is about Cybercrime and Countermeasures and the concept of activating a single shut off mechanism for all Internet traffic...
, defined in a proposed Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act. This act removes the powers established in the 1934 Act and gives the President the authority to stop the Internet in case of a cyber attack.
Structure
The Communications Act of 1934, as amended, consists of seven major sections or "titles":- Title I — General provisions
- Title II — Common carriers
- Title III — Provisions related to radio
- Title IV — Procedural and administrative provisions
- Title V — Penal provisions; Forfeitures
- Title VI — Cable communications (added by Cable Communications Act of 1984)
- Title VII — Miscellaneous provisions
Commercial radio debate
Before the Communications Act of 1934 was enacted as law by the U.S. Congress, there was a debate over commercial versus non-commercial broadcasting: Senators Robert WagnerRobert F. Wagner
Robert Ferdinand Wagner I was an American politician. He was a Democratic U.S. Senator from New York from 1927 to 1949.-Origin and early life:...
of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and Henry Hatfield of West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
offered an amendment to the then proposed Communications Act. Educators wanted more of radio to be given to them; they had been termed a "special interest" by the Federal Radio Commission and their stations were forced to share frequencies. The Wagner-Hatfield amendment
Wagner-Hatfield amendment
Wagner-Hatfield amendment was a proposed amendment to the Communications Act of 1934 aimed at turning over twenty-five percent of all radio channels to non-profit radio broadcasters...
would have given 25% of all radio broadcasting facilities to non-profit institutions and organizations. It would also have allowed these educational stations to sell advertising in order to become self-sufficient. Senator C.C. Dill, a pro-industry spokesman, opposed this amendment. It would have meant eliminating numerous commercial stations, but that is not what Dill publicly complained about. He expressed horror over the advertising. He said there was too much advertising already. Not all
educators supported the advertising clause, so a compromise was struck. The issue was to be given to the new Federal Communications Commission to study and to hold hearings on and to report back to Congress. Hatfield and Wagner stuck to their guns, however, and proposed their amendment anyway. The Hatfield-Wagner amendment died and the Communications Act was passed.
The Federal Communications Commission reported back, saying that commercial stations had ample time for educational and other public service programs. The Commission called for cooperation between commercial and educational interests and other non-profit groups. The educators lost, though commercial broadcasters were forced to air public affairs programs.
Chain (network) case
The United States Supreme Court held in National Broadcasting Co. Inc. et al. v. United States et al.National Broadcasting Co. Inc. et al. v. United States et al.
National Broadcasting Co. v. United States, 319 U.S. 190 , was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held on May 10, 1943 that the Federal Communications Commission had the power to issue regulations pertaining to associations between broadcasting networks and their affiliated...
, 319 U.S. 190 on May 10, 1943 that the FCC had the right to issue regulations pertaining to associations between broadcasting networks and their affiliated stations. The Opinion of the Supreme Court was not unanimous and it led to a conflict with an earlier decision in Federal Communications Commission v. Sanders Brothers Radio Station, 309 U.S. 470, on March 25, 1940.
In that case the FCC interpreted Supreme Court decisions concerning broadcasting to mean that potential economic injury to an existing licensee was not grounds for refusing to license a competitor. (This FCC interpretation remained in place from 1940 to 1958.)
The Opinion of the Supreme Court was delivered by Felix Frankfurter
Felix Frankfurter
Felix Frankfurter was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.-Early life:Frankfurter was born into a Jewish family on November 15, 1882, in Vienna, Austria, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Europe. He was the third of six children of Leopold and Emma Frankfurter...
. Justices Hugo Black
Hugo Black
Hugo Lafayette Black was an American politician and jurist. A member of the Democratic Party, Black represented Alabama in the United States Senate from 1927 to 1937, and served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1937 to 1971. Black was nominated to the Supreme...
and Wiley Blount Rutledge
Wiley Blount Rutledge
Wiley Blount Rutledge, Jr. was an American educator, lawyer, and justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.-Early life:...
took no part in the discussion or decision. Justice Frank Murphy
Frank Murphy
William Francis Murphy was a politician and jurist from Michigan. He served as First Assistant U.S. District Attorney, Eastern Michigan District , Recorder's Court Judge, Detroit . Mayor of Detroit , the last Governor-General of the Philippines , U.S...
offered a dissenting opinion, stating that the Court was effectively giving the FCC a power to regulate networks which had not been given to the FCC by Congress. Murphy stated that
Because the majority of the Court did not agree with Murphy it effectively gave the FCC power to regulate the networks. As a result of this 1943 decision, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
was forced to sell one of its two networks (its Blue Network
Blue Network
The Blue Network, and its immediate predecessor, the NBC Blue Network, were the on-air names of an American radio production and distribution service from 1927 to 1945...
) and it was this action which then led to the creation of the American Broadcasting Company
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
Federal Radio Commission vs. Federal Communication Commission
The FRC regulated radio communication only, but FCC covers any kind of wired and wireless communications. The FCC adopted the FRC's limited authority. The FRC could only regulate national radio communication and radio communication between ships, but the FCC can control other mediums, both wired and wireless communication including radio, and has more concrete regulations. For example, U.S. congress suspended the act of 1934 section 315, equal time provision, for a TV forum on presidential election in 1960 because every candidate has to have same portion of time to speech.Effect of Communications Act of 1934
The act established a legal base for regulating wired and wireless communications on a nation-wide and world-wide basis. The Federal Communication Commission founded because of the act; it replaced the Federal Radio Commission. Because of the act, American government could regulate new media technologies such as television and mobile phones. Moreover, the act created a legal basis commercial communication corporations as private TV and radio station. Opponents in the U.S congress argued the act depressed telecommunication industry, such as delaying the development of new technologies for example. U.S. congress produced a report recommending changes title "Proposals for Revision of the Communications Act of 1934: Telecommunications Issues" in 1982.The Creation of the FCC
In the early 1900s The United States Congress was given the responsibility of regulating interstate and foreign commerce, due to the Commerce Clause. Radio transmission became the most efficient way to facilitate communication about commerce and therefore, radio frequencies on the electromagnetic spectrum could constitutionally be regulated. The Wireless Ship Act of 1910 called for Congress to modestly regulate the wireless industry and The Radio Act of 1912 was their first attempt to make more legislative oversight to the entire radio industry. This Act required anyone who wanted to transmit over the radio to have government issued permission in form of a license. Along with the help of important legislators, these were the early building blocks that eventually evolved into the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
played a large role regarding regulation because he issued the licenses which allocated the spectrum. Once radio broadcasting became popular, Hoover brought attention to the limited amount of frequency space the spectrum held. This problem made obtaining frequencies and airtime very difficult, as well as making "noise" on existing frequencies. Between 1923 and 1924, Hoover expanded the number of assigned frequencies to reduce the interference, but his quick fix failed which in turned ended self-regulation of spectrum space. Congress then passed the Radio Act of 1927 to create the framework for regulating the rapid growing broadcast industry.
President Coolidge was an important aspect of radio regulation by signing the Radio Act of 1927 which invested regulatory power to the Federal Radio Commission (FRC). Senators Clarence C. and Wallace White also pushed toward passing the 1927 Act. The FRC had a short 6- year term in American history and transferred its responsibility, as the agency for managing the radio spectrum, to the FCC after the Communications Act of 1934. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the bill in 1934. This change in power was needed to develop a better way of determining who got to use what radio bands and for what purposes. There were many factors and individuals that played a role in the creation of the FCC, but in the end, Congress created the agency.
Change from the FRC commissioners to the FCC
The FCC took over regulation in 1934 and changed many of the structural characteristics of the original agency, although its goal of reducing interference remained the same. The original FRC had 5 members who were each responsible for representing one geographical area of the United States. Congress also planned for the 5-member agency to become a quasi-judicial body which would only have to meet when necessary. Their jobs were to alleviate "noise" from the airwaves and they were given the power to license and regulate radio stations. The Federal Radio Commission's lack of regulatory action lead to the more permanent Federal Communication Commission. Much like the FRC, the FCC is made up of five commissioners, who are appointed by the President and approved by the Senate. Each Commission can only serve for a five-year term, even the one chosen to be the Chairperson. Although there are only five commissioners, there are several offices and departments, made up of hundreds and staff members that carry out different duties. For example, the Mass Media bureau processes license applications and renewals. These divisions of administrative duties differentiate the FRC from the FCC.Telecommunications Act of 1996
The Telecommunication Act 1996Telecommunications Act of 1996
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was the first major overhaul of United States telecommunications law in nearly 62 years, amending the Communications Act of 1934. This Act, signed by President Bill Clinton, was a major stepping stone towards the future of telecommunications, since this was the...
and Communications Act of 1934 had two major changes: the new act was less technologically biased and offered less regulation.
This act determined the basis of media regulation by its contents, not a technological standard. Title V in Telecommunication Act of 1996, "Obscenity and Violence", is a good example of this; Title V set the standard for regulating media contents.
The Communications Act of 1934 is argued by some to have created monopolies, such as the case of AT&T case. FCC recognized AT&T as a "natural monopoly
Natural monopoly
A monopoly describes a situation where all sales in a market are undertaken by a single firm. A natural monopoly by contrast is a condition on the cost-technology of an industry whereby it is most efficient for production to be concentrated in a single form...
" during the 1930s in the Communications Act of 1934. Because of these effects, the FCC designed the Communications Act 1996 “to provide for a pro-competitive, de-regulatory national policy framework designed to accelerate rapidly private sector deployment of advanced information technologies and services to all Americans by opening all telecommunications markets to competition...." The Telecommunication Act of 1996 also added and changed some rules to account for the emerging internet.
Communication Act as Technologically Biased
Communications Act of 1934 is technologically biased because standards what determine regulation are technological properties:cable and radio, wire and wireless for instance. It makes discriminations in same content on different medium. Phone lines were regulated to allow for emergency calls to be called whether the phones had service or not and the phone companies had to pay fees allowing their phones to connect to the 9-1-1 system. Many of these issues have been solved by adapting the rules to function with VoIP technologies.Being created at a time where there was only telephones and radio the act had very specific rules towards regulation in these markets. The act became biased as newer technologies entered the market with far less regulation.
Amendments Made to the Act
One large amendment to the Communications Act of 1934 was made on September 7, 1999. The FCC ruled "that a broadcast station should not be allowed to refuse a request for political advertising time solely on the ground that the station does not sell or program such lengths oftime." Politics have had many effects and changes to the act that are not in the "best interest of the public" thus taking away some of the power given to the FCC from the Act.See also
- COPE Act of 2006Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006The Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006 was a bill in the US House of Representatives. It was part of a major overhaul of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 being considered by the US Congress. The Act was sponsored by Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton , Rep....
(Communications Act of 2006) - Telecommunications Act of 2005Telecommunications Act of 2005The Telecommunications Act of 2005 is a proposed United States telecommunications law thatmakes regulatory changes to broadband Internet providers,Voice over IP providers, andBroadband Video services. Some of...
(Communications Act of 2006) - Telecommunications Act of 1996Telecommunications Act of 1996The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was the first major overhaul of United States telecommunications law in nearly 62 years, amending the Communications Act of 1934. This Act, signed by President Bill Clinton, was a major stepping stone towards the future of telecommunications, since this was the...
- Comcast Corp. v. FCCComcast Corp. v. FCCComcast Corp. v. FCC, 600 F.3d 642, is a 2010 United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia case holding that the Federal Communications Commission does not have ancillary jurisdiction over Comcast’s Internet service under the language of the Communications Act of 1934...