Regulation

=History of Regulation=

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Ben Franklin speaks about broadcast regulation: media type="custom" key="3927717" Note: Quote is by Bill Monroe To hear Ben Franklin speak about broadcast regulation click here []

Prior to 1927, radio broadcasts were regulated by the Department of Commerce under the Radio Act of 1912, with limited success due to the limited powers the department possessed. This led to chaotic airwaves, as the majority of people broadcasting were attempting to broadcast on frequencies too close to one another (at first only two were available). After several failed attempts to rectify this situation, Congress finally passed the Radio Act of 1927, which transferred the authority to regulate radio waves to a five person Federal Radio Commission, with each person overseeing a specific geographic area. The Commission had the power to grant and deny licenses, and to assign frequencies and power limits for the licensees. They did not have any official power of censorship (although you could not air any “obscene, indecent, or profane language”, and in theory the Commission could take content into consideration when deciding whether or not to renew licenses), and did not have any real power over networks or advertising.

The Federal Communications Commission replaced the Federal Radio Commission as the government agency charged with regulating non-federal government use of the radio spectrum. The FCC was created under the Communications Act of 1934, and had substantially more power than the Federal Radio Commission. Under the Communications Act the FCC was also charged with overseeing telecommunications previously handled by the Interstate Commerce Commission.

The interference created by placing too many stations close to one another resulted in the FCC decision to halt handing out new construction permits for new licenses in October 1948. The FCC also discovered during that same time period that the designated VHF channels 2-13 were inadequate for television nationwide. The “Freeze” of 1948, as it came to be called, was only expected to last a short period of time, certainly less than a year. It wasn’t until mid-1952, however, that the reallocation map of stations and official licensing of new stations began again, and over a year before it began in earnest. This was the result of issues stemming from the debate over the emerging technology of UHF channels and color television. As a result the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) assigned 12 television channels between 54 and 216 MHz in the very-high-frequency (VHF) range and 56 channels between 470 and 806 MHz in the ultra-high-frequency (UHF) range.

Some recent developments regarding the FCC include the anti-trust lawsuits brought against it by the Justice Department in the 80’s, the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005. The lawsuits dealt with a monopoly that AT&T had over phone prices, and the fact that they could significantly underprice other competitiors. The end result of this litigation was the break-up of AT&T and Bells. The goal of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was to increase competition in local telephone service. So far the Act has had limited, if any, success. The Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005 was created following Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction" during the Super Bowl, and was the culmination of a growing movement within the FCC to censure inappropriate/indecent content.

A major controversy regarding the FCC and regulation in general has been the question of whether the First Amendment right to free speech is in anyone infringed upon by the idea of needing a license to broadcast in any of several medias. Obviously, by this point in time, this question has been resolved with the answer being that the regulation of radio and television does not infringe upon the First Amendment to free speech.