Federal Communications Commission vs. Fox Television Stations Inc

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 was a major stepping stone towards the future of telecommunications, since this was the first time that the Internet was included in broadcasting and spectrum allotment. One of the primary goals of the law (Title III specifically) was to let anyone enter any communications business “to let any communications businesses compete in any market against any other." Also, the new Telecommunications Act allowed the FCC, and Congress, to "update" the old - and outdated - Telecommunications Act of 1934.

The Federal Communication Commission or FCC (1934) regulates interstate and international communications by telephones, televisions, cable televisions, radios, telegraph, CB radios, and satellite in over 50 states. The FCC is directed by five commissioners who are appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the U.S Senate.(3)

The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the U.S. government that was established in 1915 and charged with keeping American business competition free and fair. The FTC has no jurisdiction over banks and common carriers, which are under the supervision of other governmental agencies. It has five members, not more than three of whom may be members of the same political party, appointed by the President, with the consent of the Senate, for seven-year terms. The act was part of the program of President Wilson to check the growth of monopoly and preserve competition as an effective regulator of business.

The issue of 1st amendment rights are critical subject in a Democracy such as America. For example, in the past countries like Nazi controlled Germany control media content to push out their extremist ideas and to squash any opposition content. That’s why government intervention is imperative to protect individual’s rights of free speech, freedom of press, and right to petition especially in relation to cable regulation. The best way to measure if government intervention in cable regulation is infringing upon citizens 1st amendment right is to focus on major consumer demands. The most appropriate goals to address the problem are to be able to please majority of consumers by implementing the perfect balance between autonomy and control when

In response to those weaknesses, the Federal Trade Commission was created and given authority to enforce the acts’ provisions and “protect consumers by preventing anticompetitive, deceptive, and unfair business practices… and accomplishing this without unduly burdening legitimate business activity” (“About the FTC”). The Federal Trade Commission’s responsibilities included preventing and dissolving monopolies, bringing civil law suits against violators of the law, and monitoring the business community for violations of law (Davis). Since its creation, rules such as the Telemarketing Sales Rule, Pay-Per-Call Rule, and Equal Credit Opportunity Act were placed under the Commission’s jurisdiction, increasing their magnitude. However, in the Constitution Congress is given power, “[t]o regulate

Before the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC, existed, there was the Federal Radio Commission. To go into more detail, though, regulating communications in the United States has been going on since the Radio Act of 1912. This was mainly so the military, emergency responders, police, and entertainment companies could get their signals out over the airwaves to the right audiences without any interference. The Radio Act of 1912 established a commission to designate which airwaves belonged to who: those for public use and those for various commercial users. The Federal Radio Commission was established in 1926 to handle the country’s radio needs, which were becoming more and more complex. It was in 1934 that Congress passed the Communications Act. This replaced the Federal Radio Commission with the Federal Communications Act. What was a huge change from the previous regulations in place was putting telephone communications under the FCC’s control. The FCC was also established to help break up monopolies over communications that developed in 1934, most notably, breaking up NBC, which eventually spawned ABC.

Citation: Federal Communication Commission (FCC) v. Fox Television Stations 567 U.S. (2012), United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (Supreme Court.)

The FCC administers all broadcasting and imposes the requirements for wire and wireless communications through its rules and regulations. The archetypes for the FCC’s broadcasting regulations were formed before the Communications Act of 1934 by its predecessor the Federal Radio Commission. Unequivocal jurisdiction over broadcast was not granted to the federal government to exclusively regulate broadcast but a year prior to the establishment of the FCC the Supreme Court inferred it as explicit and prohibited the states from obstructing its authority. Title I of the 1934 Act defines many of the FCC's powers related to broadcasting. The title states that the Act “applies to all interstate and foreign communications by wire or radio.” The FCC has jurisdiction in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. possessions such as Puerto Rico,

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates telephone and internet services in the United States. In 1934, the FCC passed the Communications Act of 1934 Communications Act of 1934 which helped establish telephone service across America (Federal Communications Commission, 1934). The FCC is working today to make internet service available to as many consumers as telephones. The Communications Act of 1934 Communications Act of 1934 regulated the Bell Operating Company and this company included most of the telephone companies in the United States in 1934 (Federal Communications Commission, 1934). AT&T was the monopoly provider of telephones in 1934,Universal Service | Federal Communications Commission however the areas AT&T did not

(Childs) What is “indecent” material or “potentially offensive” material? Is a website considered indecent if they use curse words and if it is indecent should they be fined $250,000 and serve up to 2 years in prison? This was answered on June 27, 1997 when the supreme court declared the CDA unconstitutional in the case Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union.(Greenhouse) Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens said that free speech on the internet is held to be a freedom protected by the highest of laws, the constitution, specifically the first amendment.(Greenhouse) Like many other Americans the Justices agreed that it is important to try and protect our children from indecent material on the internet however this is a matter which should be handled by the parents, not the government.(Greenhouse) District Judge Buckwalter says “my concerns are these: above all, I believe that the challenged provisions are so vague as to violate both the First and Fifth Amendments.” He also questions how the government could be arguing that “patently offensive” and “indecent” are one in the same.(ACUL v. Janet Reno)

In 1928 the law called the “Davis Amendment” was passed. Every zone had to have equal allocations of licenses, time of operation, station power, and wavelength. It made radio more consistent, therefore audiences enjoyed a better listening experience. The Davis Amendment asked many radio stations to relocate because no matter the size of location the number of stations had to be kept the same. In 1934 Congress passed the Communications Act, establishing the Federal Communications Commission, which “regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories”. The FCC was created because TV was new, the Radio act of 1927 never mentioned it and they wanted to regulate TV. The impact of the FCC is still being felt today since they control what can be on TV, internet, and radio. The Radio Act’s influence on the FCC can be still felt

: In 1992, the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act required cable companies to give a certain number of their channels to local broadcast programs. The Cable Act included several “must-carry” rules that limited the control of open channels by cable programmers and increased competition for the left over channels. Soon after the Act became law, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., the owner of several cable programming operations, brought this case against the FCC and challenged if the must-carry regulations were constitutional. A special three-judge U.S. District Court ruled in favor of Turner Broadcasting, granting the summary judgment that the requirements were consistent with the First Amendment and intermediate scrutiny

Meehan v. American Media International, LLC, 214 N.C.App 245, 260, 712 S.E.2d 904, 913 (N.C.App. 2011) (citations omitted).

For the last 100 years a single federal agency has stood to protect the american consumers. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was established as an administrative government agency that was created by congress to enforce the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA). The FTCA gives authorities the power to prohibit unfair methods of competition as a means to protect consumers. The Commission’s mission is dual objective, protect consumers and promote competition. Therefore, we will explore the history of the FTC and how the FTCA has been its foundation. Next, we will look at Section 5 of the FTCA and how it protects consumers.

in an attempt to acquire Time Warner, which was largely associated to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations and policies.