Telecommunication Act Of 1996 Essay

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 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 Also, the new Telecommunications Act allowed the FCC, and Congress, to "update" the old - and outdated - Telecommunications Act of 1934.

As time passes, things that we thought were stable and unchangeable, change. New technologies are created, new problems to be solved by congress emerge, more resources are needed to supply the population and ideas accepted before substituted and annulated. And with the Antitrust Act created by a huge name in the United States history of presidents, Theodore Roosevelt. But did this reform really changed from that time to nowadays? It changed in many ways, such as the congress passed Clayton Act , the creation of FTC.

In 1996, Congress passed the Telecommunications Act thereby lifting restrictions on media ownership that had been in place for over sixty years (Moyers 2003; Bagdikian 2000: xviii). It was now possible for a single media company to own not just two radio stations in any given local market, but eight. On the national level, there was no longer any limit on the number of stations a company could own – the Act abandoned the previous nation-wide ownership cap of forty stations (20 FM and 20 AM). This “anti-regulatory sentiment in government” has continued and in 2004 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved a new rule that

With the expansion of digital and online marketplaces, the FCC’s responsibility to promote free market principles and business has never been more important. The order goes on to describe how it will use its’ legal authority to promote free market expansion, “We marshal all of these sources of authority toward a common statutorily-supported goal: to protect and promote Internet openness as platform for competition, free expression and innovation; a driver of economic growth; and an engine of the virtuous cycle of broadband deployment” (FCC, 120). By promoting open internet and the virtuous cycle, business and digital marketplaces have a secure and reliable medium to buy and sell goods, and promote business and other start-ups. The commission’s legal authority is derived from section 706 (FCC, 121). The order also aims at modernizing Title II, an act that helps promote investment and business activity (FCC,

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

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.

IN AT LEAST 150 TO 350-WORDS, WRITE AN ESSAY RESPONDING TO THE DETAILS OF THE FOLLOWING THREE QUESTIONS AND STATEMENTS:

The Communications Act of 1934, as amended (the "Communications Act"), and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations and policies also significantly impact Comcast’s decision on the company's businesses, including cable system and broadcast station ownership, video services customer rates, carriage of broadcast television stations, broadcast programming content and advertising, package of programming to customers and other providers, access to cable system channels by franchising authorities and other parties, the use of utility poles and conduits, and the offering of high-speed internet and phone services (Marketline, 2013). Failure of Comcast's businesses to comply with the laws and regulations may result in administrative enforcement actions, fines and civil and criminal liability. In as much that laws, policies and regulations are much stricter in the U.S. this would present significant risks to the company's businesses which may affect its operating

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

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 FCC’s move will allow companies like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon to charge internet companies for speedier access to consumers and to block outside services they don’t like. The change also axes a host of consumer protections, including privacy requirements and rules barring unfair practices that gave consumers an avenue to pursue complaints about price gouging.

While communications markets had been experimented with before, communication rules drastically changed after the Communications Act of 1934 (and the FCC that came out of it). Congress granted the FCC the ability to hand out licenses to companies they deemed served, “the public interest, convenience, and necessity” (2). In their 1928 report, the FCC stated, “the emphasis must be first and foremost on the interest, the convenience, and the necessity of the listening public, and not on the interest, convenience, or necessity of the individual broadcaster or the advertiser” (3). The FCC knew that, “it would not

This new law will change the rules for competition and regulation in the communications industry.

British Telecom My aim in this investigation is to discuss whether or not British Telecom has successfully grown and developed since its Privatisation to compete on a world scale. In addition to this has it any long-term strategies for future growth and development of products. According to the 1996 Budget Red Book, more than 50 major businesses have been privatised since 1979 and the state owned sector of industry has been reduced be two-thirds.