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Communications Law Commons

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Articles 31 - 60 of 68

Full-Text Articles in Communications Law

Does Video Delivered Over A Telephone Network Require A Cable Franchise?, Robert W. Crandall, J. Gregory Sidak, Hal J. Singer Mar 2007

Does Video Delivered Over A Telephone Network Require A Cable Franchise?, Robert W. Crandall, J. Gregory Sidak, Hal J. Singer

Federal Communications Law Journal

This Article examines whether, on legal or policy grounds, video services provided over a telephone network should be regulated as a traditional cable service or whether a different approach is warranted. The Authors find that municipal franchise requirements for video services provided over telephone networks would reduce consumer welfare. The Authors estimate that, even without considering any welfare gains owing to higher quality, the consumer welfare gains from entry exceed the potential loss in franchise fee revenue to municipalities by a factor of nearly three to one.


Municipal Broadband: Challenges And Perspectives, Craig Dingwall Dec 2006

Municipal Broadband: Challenges And Perspectives, Craig Dingwall

Federal Communications Law Journal

This Article reviews the status and challenges of municipal broadband and provides recommendations for responsible municipal broadband deployment. The Author reviews broadband demand; possible justifications for and the status of municipal broadband deployment; speed, feature, and price considerations; regulatory and technical issues; and relevant laws and legislation. The Author offers specific national policy recommendations and concludes that government/industry partnerships offer perhaps the best solution for municipal broadband deployment where broadband needs aren't met.


Opening Bottlenecks: On Behalf Of Mandated Network Neutrality, Bill D. Herman Dec 2006

Opening Bottlenecks: On Behalf Of Mandated Network Neutrality, Bill D. Herman

Federal Communications Law Journal

This Article calls for mandated "network neutrality," which would require broadband service providers to treat all nondestructive data equitably. The Author argues that neutral networks are preferable because they better foster online innovation and provide a more equitable distribution of the power to communicate. Without mandated network neutrality, providers in highly concentrated regional broadband markets will likely begin charging content providers for the right to send data to end users at the fastest speeds available. The Author demonstrates that regional broadband competition and forthcoming transmission technologies are unlikely to prevent broadband discrimination, ad hoc regulation under current statutory authority is …


A Complete Property Right Amendment, John H. Ryskamp Oct 2006

A Complete Property Right Amendment, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

The trend of the eminent domain reform and "Kelo plus" initiatives is toward a comprehensive Constitutional property right incorporating the elements of level of review, nature of government action, and extent of compensation. This article contains a draft amendment which reflects these concerns.


Deregulation And Market Concentration: An Analysis Of Post- 1996 Consolidations, Eli M. Noam Jun 2006

Deregulation And Market Concentration: An Analysis Of Post- 1996 Consolidations, Eli M. Noam

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Responses By The Federal Communications Commission To Worldcom's Accounting Fraud, Warren G. Lavey Jun 2006

Responses By The Federal Communications Commission To Worldcom's Accounting Fraud, Warren G. Lavey

Federal Communications Law Journal

WorldCom's disclosure of billions of dollars of financial fraud on June 25, 2002 challenged the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") in several major ways. The FCC proclaimed its commitment to enforce its rules to protect consumers against service discontinuance as well as the priority of rooting out corporate fraud. The FCC's rules required WorldCom to file accurate financial information and to show that it had financial and character qualifications necessary to hold FCC licenses. Despite numerous related proceedings and other actions in 2001 and early 2002, the FCC had not detected nor deterred WorldCom's fraud. After the disclosure, WorldCom continued its …


An Economic Approach To The Regulation Of Direct Marketing, Daniel R. Shiman Apr 2006

An Economic Approach To The Regulation Of Direct Marketing, Daniel R. Shiman

Federal Communications Law Journal

The growing ubiquity of electronic media and the almost total absence of cost in mass distributions of direct marketing have exacerbated the problem of the increasing intrusion of direct marketing into the privacy of citizens. The Author proposes utilization of a microeconomic social welfare analysis to guide policymakers in determining what forms of direct media should be regulated and what the most effective forms of regulation are likely to be. Sending and receiving costs provide the key factors in determining the extent of the "welfare-reducing marketing" and "marketing aversions," but the Author points to a number of other factors as …


Out Of Thin Air: Using First Amendment Public Forum Analysis To Redeem American Broadcasting Regulation, Anthony E. Varona Jan 2006

Out Of Thin Air: Using First Amendment Public Forum Analysis To Redeem American Broadcasting Regulation, Anthony E. Varona

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

American television and radio broadcasters are uniquely privileged among Federal Communications Commission (FCC) licensees. Exalted as public trustees by the 1934 Communications Act, broadcasters pay virtually nothing for the use of their channels of public radiofrequency spectrum, unlike many other FCC licensees who have paid billions of dollars for similar digital spectrum. Congress envisioned a social contract of sorts between broadcast licensees and the communities they served. In exchange for their free licenses, broadcast stations were charged with providing a platform for a "free marketplace of ideas" that would cultivate a democratically engaged and enlightened citizenry through the broadcasting of …


Not From Concentrate? Media Regulation At The Turn Of The Millennium M Arch 18-19, 2005, Journal Of Law Reform Jan 2006

Not From Concentrate? Media Regulation At The Turn Of The Millennium M Arch 18-19, 2005, Journal Of Law Reform

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Transcript from a March 2005 Symposium held in the University of Michigan Law School, Hutchins Hall.


Universal Service: Problems, Solutions, And Responsive Policies, Allen S. Hammond Iv Mar 2005

Universal Service: Problems, Solutions, And Responsive Policies, Allen S. Hammond Iv

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.


The Broadcast Flag: It's Not Just Tv, Wendy Seltzer Mar 2005

The Broadcast Flag: It's Not Just Tv, Wendy Seltzer

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Time For Change On Media Cross-Ownership Regulation, John F. Sturm Mar 2005

Time For Change On Media Cross-Ownership Regulation, John F. Sturm

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Competition Versus Regulation: "Mediating Between Right And Right'* In The Wireless And Wireline Telephone Industries, Benjamin Douglas Arden Dec 2004

Competition Versus Regulation: "Mediating Between Right And Right'* In The Wireless And Wireline Telephone Industries, Benjamin Douglas Arden

Federal Communications Law Journal

The wireline telephone industry in the United States is the most complete and sophisticated system in the world, built under 100 years of strict government regulation. While the wireline telephone industry was built under a scheme emphasizing regulatory control, the infancy of the wireless telephone industry has been subject to increasing deregulation and reliance on free market forces to guide the industry's development. It has been suggested that this shift in policy reflects the acknowledged failure of strict government regulation. This Note argues that the shift in regulatory policy reflects a difference in circumstances between the development of the wireless …


Wandering Along The Road To Competition And Convergence- The Changing Cmrs Roadmap, Leonard J. Kennedy, Heather A. Purcell May 2004

Wandering Along The Road To Competition And Convergence- The Changing Cmrs Roadmap, Leonard J. Kennedy, Heather A. Purcell

Federal Communications Law Journal

In this timely follow-up piece to a 1998 piece entitled A Federal Regulatory Framework that is "Hog Tight, Horse High, and Bull Strong, " the Authors of this Article revisit the progress of American commercial mobile radio services ("CMRS") proliferation and regulation. The piece expresses the concern that balkanization has continued to plague wireless regulation in the United States, as misguided legal analyses and state regulation further hinder wireless development across the nation. While the European Union has witnessed unprecedented growth in this sector, conflicting court and FCC decisions and continued federal, state, and local burdens on CMRS have placed …


Rehearsal For Media Regulation: Congress Versus The Telegraph-News Monopoly, 1866-1900, Menahem Blondheim Mar 2004

Rehearsal For Media Regulation: Congress Versus The Telegraph-News Monopoly, 1866-1900, Menahem Blondheim

Federal Communications Law Journal

In this Article, Menahem Blondheim presents a critical historical analysis of the dawn of communications regulation as it began with the evolution of domestic telegraphy and developed into a coherent link between 19th century technological, business, and social developments and twentieth century First Amendment thought. First, the Article examines the political and economic environment which led to the development of national telegraph and news networks, like Western Union and the Associated Press. The Author then proceeds to assess the role of the mid-to-late nineteenth century American legislature, and how the debate over telegraph and wire service regulation realigned the powers …


Unmasking Hidden Commercials In Broadcasting: Origins Of The Sponsorship Identification Regulations, 1927-1963, Richard Kielbowicz, Linda Lawson Mar 2004

Unmasking Hidden Commercials In Broadcasting: Origins Of The Sponsorship Identification Regulations, 1927-1963, Richard Kielbowicz, Linda Lawson

Federal Communications Law Journal

This Article by Richard Kielbowicz and Linda Lawson is an exploration of the origins of sponsorship identification regulations as they pertained to early radio and television programming. Beginning with the statutory sponsorship identification requirement enacted in 1927, the Authors trace the development of sponsorship identification rules in the communications industry. By arguing that such rules express a basic goal of American communication law and policy, Kielbowicz and Lawson analyze trends and developments in sponsorship regulation that did not materialize in the 1930s and 1940s because of the nature of early broadcast sponsorship. The Authors then assert that those same early …


Legislating The Tower Of Babel: International Restrictions On Internet Content And The Marketplace Of Ideas, Michael F. Sutton Mar 2004

Legislating The Tower Of Babel: International Restrictions On Internet Content And The Marketplace Of Ideas, Michael F. Sutton

Federal Communications Law Journal

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects the expression of diverse viewpoints in virtually any medium. Nevertheless, the modern novelty of "borderless" communication via the Internet strains our ideal of keeping government out of the business of regulating speech. This Note reveals the conflict between the First Amendment's national protections and the Internet's lack of national boundaries, while also arguing for international intervention for the protection of free speech. This Author articulates the real danger of "watered-down speech" unless both the FCC and the international community provide regulations and harmonized international standards for online content that reflect First Amendment …


Promoting Innovation To Prevent The Internet From Becoming A Wasteland, Zoe Baird May 2003

Promoting Innovation To Prevent The Internet From Becoming A Wasteland, Zoe Baird

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Revisiting The Vast Wasteland, Newton N. Minow, Fred H. Cate May 2003

Revisiting The Vast Wasteland, Newton N. Minow, Fred H. Cate

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.


From Vast Wasteland To Electronic Garden: Responsibilities In The New Video Environment, Charles M. Firestone May 2003

From Vast Wasteland To Electronic Garden: Responsibilities In The New Video Environment, Charles M. Firestone

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Avast Ye Wasteland: Reflections On America’S Most Famous Exercise In “Public Interest” Piracy, Robert Corn-Revere May 2003

Avast Ye Wasteland: Reflections On America’S Most Famous Exercise In “Public Interest” Piracy, Robert Corn-Revere

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Forty Years Of Wandering In The Wasteland, Nicholas Johnson May 2003

Forty Years Of Wandering In The Wasteland, Nicholas Johnson

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Promoting The Public Interest In The Digital Era, Henry Geller May 2003

Promoting The Public Interest In The Digital Era, Henry Geller

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Tv: A Vast Oasis Of Public Interest Programming, Edward O. Fritts May 2003

Tv: A Vast Oasis Of Public Interest Programming, Edward O. Fritts

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Electronic Oases Take Root In Mr. Minow's Vast Wasteland, Edward J. Markey May 2003

Electronic Oases Take Root In Mr. Minow's Vast Wasteland, Edward J. Markey

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Manhattan, Cass R. Sunstein May 2003

Manhattan, Cass R. Sunstein

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Measuring Quality Television, Russ Taylor May 2003

Measuring Quality Television, Russ Taylor

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.


The “Vast Wasteland” In Retrospect, Joel Rosenbloom Apr 2003

The “Vast Wasteland” In Retrospect, Joel Rosenbloom

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.


The Legacy Of The Federal Communications Commission’S Computer Inquiries, Robert Cannon Mar 2003

The Legacy Of The Federal Communications Commission’S Computer Inquiries, Robert Cannon

Federal Communications Law Journal

The FCC and the computer industry have learned much in the 35 years since the agency first began to regulate computer networks. Safeguards were imposed on common carriers for the benefit of the networks. This Article examines the so-called Computer Inquiries and how they have repeatedly re-examined and redefined the nature of the regulatory treatment of computer networks over communications networks. The Author reviews Computer I, in which the FCC first attempted to divide the world technologically between computers that ran communications networks ("pure communications") and computers at the end of telephone lines with which people interacted ("pure data processing"). …


Cap-Sized: How The Promise Of The Price Cap Voyage To Competition Was Lost In A Sea Of Good Intentions, Gregory J. Vogt Mar 1999

Cap-Sized: How The Promise Of The Price Cap Voyage To Competition Was Lost In A Sea Of Good Intentions, Gregory J. Vogt

Federal Communications Law Journal

This Article explores the Federal Communication Commission’s efforts to regulate into being marketplace economic forces through price cap regulation. A comprehensive analysis of the history and policies behind price cap regulation of LECs offers guidance for the future. Ultimately, while progress towards local exchange competition has been made, certain important adjustments should be implemented to allow price caps to achieve their full potential. These changes, consistent with the original theory of price caps, will in turn help speed the transition to competition.