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Full-Text Articles in Law
Space, The Final Frontier-Expanding Fcc Regulation Of Indecent Content Onto Direct Broadcast Satellite, John C. Quale, Malcolm J. Tuesley
Space, The Final Frontier-Expanding Fcc Regulation Of Indecent Content Onto Direct Broadcast Satellite, John C. Quale, Malcolm J. Tuesley
Federal Communications Law Journal
The vast majority of viewers today receive video programming from multichannel video programming providers-mostly cable television or direct broadcast satellite ("DBS")-rather than directly over-the-air from broadcast stations. While the FCC has not hesitated to sanction broadcasters for what it deems to be indecent content, it consistently has found that it lacks the authority to regulate indecency on subscription services like cable television. Citizens groups and some in Congress now seek to extend indecency restrictions to DBS services under existing law or through the enactment of new legislation. It is true that DBS, because of its use of radio spectrum to …
In The Dark: A Consumer Perspective On Fcc Broadcast Indecency Denials, Genelle I. Belmas, Gail D. Love, Brian C. Foy
In The Dark: A Consumer Perspective On Fcc Broadcast Indecency Denials, Genelle I. Belmas, Gail D. Love, Brian C. Foy
Federal Communications Law Journal
Indecency regulation has been a hot political and social topic since Janet Jackson revealed her breast during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. The number of indecency complaints the FCC receives each year continues to rise. Moreover, to further complicate matters, in 2007 the Second Circuit overturned the FCC policy that so-called "fleeting expletives" would be considered indecent. However, there has been no systematic review of the complaints from the perspective of the complainant. How has the FCC managed its increasing indecency complaint load, and what does it tell consumers who have taken the time to write formal complaints about …
Summing Up The Public Interest: A Review Of "Media Diversity And Localism: Meaning And Metrics," Edited By Philip M. Napoli, Victoria F. Phillips
Summing Up The Public Interest: A Review Of "Media Diversity And Localism: Meaning And Metrics," Edited By Philip M. Napoli, Victoria F. Phillips
Federal Communications Law Journal
Philip Napoli's Media Diversity and Localism: Meaning and Metrics, is a thoughtful and first of its kind compilation of some of the ongoing research and scholarship examining the concepts of diversity and localism underlying the Federal Communications Commission's public interest standard in broadcasting. The collection of essays addresses these fundamental goals from a variety of disciplines beyond the law, including political science, communications policy, sociology, and economics. The essays explore the values associated with these two goals, apply performance metrics to assess existing regulatory policies intended to preserve and promote these goals, and reflect on their meaning in the new …
Deal Or No Deal: Reinterpreting The Fcc's Foreign Ownership Rules For A Fair Game, Cindy J. Cho
Deal Or No Deal: Reinterpreting The Fcc's Foreign Ownership Rules For A Fair Game, Cindy J. Cho
Federal Communications Law Journal
With the changing racial and linguistic composition of the American market and the emerging strength of the Mexican market, American broadcast companies are facing a new competitive playing field.. Section 310 of the Communications Act of 1934 ("Act") establishes the guidelines for when a foreign national is eligible to apply for a broadcast license from the FCC. The FCC currently interprets these limits on foreign ownership very leniently, favoring a policy of deregulation in an attempt to further open up the United States market. This Note argues that once foreign nationals have cleared the hurdle of § 310's foreign ownership …
Choosing Between The Necessity And Public Interest Standards In Fcc Review Of Media Ownership Rules, Peter Dicola
Choosing Between The Necessity And Public Interest Standards In Fcc Review Of Media Ownership Rules, Peter Dicola
Michigan Law Review
Section 202(h) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, as amended, directs the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") to review its media ownership rules every four years. But the statute contains an ambiguity regarding the standard of review that the FCC must apply during such proceedings. To retain a particular media ownership regulation, must the FCC merely show that the regulation advances one of the FCC's three public-interest goals for media: competition, diversity, and localism-applying a "public interest" standard? Or must the FCC meet the higher burden of demonstrating that the regulation is also indispensable for maintaining competition, diversity, or localism at …
Necessary Knowledge For Communications Policy: Information Asymmetries And Commercial Data Access And Usage In The Policymaking Process, Philip M. Napoli, Michelle Seaton
Necessary Knowledge For Communications Policy: Information Asymmetries And Commercial Data Access And Usage In The Policymaking Process, Philip M. Napoli, Michelle Seaton
Federal Communications Law Journal
Communications policymaking increasingly relies upon research derived from large-scale databases manufactured and marketed by commercial organizations. One byproduct of this situation is that substantial inequalities in access to these data arise. These information asymmetries can result in research that fails to reflect the policy considerations of the full range of interested stakeholders. This Article explores these issues via a case study of the FCC's 2003 media ownership proceeding and offers suggestions for how existing disparities in access to policy-relevant data might be addressed.
The Fcc Complaint Process And Increasing Public Unease: Toward An Apolitical Broadcast Indecency Regime, Kurt Hunt
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
[...]I propose depoliticizing the broadcast indecency regime by utilizing polling to determine the average broadcast viewer's opinion, divorced from all the pressures inherent in relying on the complaint process as a proxy. In section II, I will discuss the background and development of the broadcast indecency doctrine from the days of the Federal Radio Commission in the 1920s through the present day. I will also explain why the apparent increasing public unease is misleading, and why valid First Amendment concerns are steamrolled by the fiery nature of the debate. In section III, I will explain why the FCC's reliance on …