Antitrust and Trade Regulation Commons^™

Network Neutrality Between False Positives And False Negatives: Introducing A European Approach To American Broadband Markets, Jasper P. Sluijs

Federal Communications Law Journal

Network neutrality has become a contentious issue both in Europe and the United States. Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic face digital divides in their society, and are confronted with potentially conflicting policy goals-to incentivize private investment in next-generation broadband while maintaining "neutral" and competitive broadband networks.

This Article compares nascent American and European network neutrality policy in terms of regulatory error costs. Emerging markets, such as broadband, are more likely to be affected by regulatory errors, and these errors have graver consequences in emerging markets than in regular markets. U.S. telecommunications policy traditionally has advanced a trial-and-error approach …

The Regulation Of Interactive Television In The United States And The European Union, Hernan Galperin, Francois Bar

Federal Communications Law Journal

The broadcasting industry is rapidly entering the era of digitization, distributed intelligence, and interactivity. The case of interactive television offers an opportunity to investigate how desirable policy goals should be implemented in the post-convergence environment. This Article first reviews the evolution of the broadcasting industry through three successive models: the traditional "Fordist" television model, the current multichannel television model, and the emerging ITV model. Second, it characterizes the basic components of ITV and explores the concerns raised by the evolution of multichannel video programming distributors into ITV platform operators. Next, the Article reviews how regulators in the United States and …

The Persistence Of The Dirigiste Model: Wireless Spectrum Allocation In Europe, À La Francaise., Russell Carlberg

Federal Communications Law Journal

This Note examines spectrum allocation for 3G mobile wireless networks in Europe in light of larger EC telecommunications and competition policies. The European Commission has allowed each member state to allocate spectrum to firms in two ways: (1) by the free market auction; and (2) by the "beauty pageant" method by which firms submit detailed proposals to the government, and government bureaucrats make the final selections. This Note focuses on France as the prime example of the beauty pageant method, and argues that, despite the "excesses" of the prices of spectrum on the free market auctions, the beauty pageant method …