Administrative Law Commons^™

Rethinking Regulation Of Advertising Aimed At Children, William A. Ramsey

Federal Communications Law Journal

In 1990, Congress passed the Children's Television Act ("CTA"), which directed the FCC to establish standards for broadcasters regarding the amount of children's programming aired and to enforce limits on the amount of commercial time aired during children's programming. The limits are meant to protect children from various harms caused by advertising aimed at children. This Note examines the constitutionality and the effectiveness of these commercial limits. The Note concludes that while the CTA's commercial limits are probably constitutional under the Court's test for regulations of commercial speech, the limits do not provide children with adequate protection from the harms …

When Do Interest Groups Use Electronic Rulemaking?, John M. De Figueiredo

Faculty Scholarship

This paper analyzes how electronic rulemaking is affecting the propensity of interest groups to file comments and replies at the Federal Communications Commission. The paper shows that exogenous events and a handful of issues drive filing behavior. Implications of the analysis are discussed.

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 …

A Model For Emergency Service Of Voip Certification And Labeling, Tom Lookabaugh, Patrick S. Ryan, Douglas C. Sicker

Federal Communications Law Journal

The diffusion of VoIP technology promises revolutionary changes to a century old model of voice telephony. Though these changes bring extraordinary opportunities, they also bring challenging policy implications for businesses and regulators. In this Article, the Authors examine the technical difficulties of providing the same quality and dependability of emergency services in VoIP based telephony as consumers have come to expect from PSTN-based telephone networks. Given the technical complexity and heterogeneity of VolP, the Authors propose industry self-regulation through an advanced certification framework as a more effective alternative to direct government regulation. After surveying a number of successful self-regulatory regimes, …

Why Stovepipe Regulation No Longer Works: An Essay On The Need For A New Market-Oriented Communications Policy, Randolph J. May

Federal Communications Law Journal

In the ten years since the 1996 Telecommunications Act, the telecommunications industry has undergone profound technological and marketplace changes. May argues that the "techno-functional constructs" of the statute regulate services based on increasingly obsolete definitions. This Article argues that those changes have undermined the "stovepipe" regulatory scheme of the 1996 Act. In an increasingly diverse and competitive marketplace, the "stovepipe" model of regulation should be left in the dustbin of history. Instead, May argues that a new market-oriented regulatory regime focusing on consumer welfare through the application of antitrust principles should form the basis of a new regulatory model.

Communications Policy For 2006 And Beyond, Reed H. Hundt, Gregory L. Rosston

Federal Communications Law Journal

In this Article, the Authors propose sweeping changes to the current telecommunications regulatory regime. With impending reform in telecommunications laws, the Authors argue that an important first step is the creation of a bipartisan, independent commission to examine and recommend implementation of more market-oriented communications policy. Through maximizing the operation of the markets, the authors argue that communications policy will better serve its goals of increasing business productivity and consumer welfare through the better services and lower prices. Important steps to achieve optimal market operation include deregulating retail prices where multifirm competition is available, minimizing the cost of public property …

The Law And Economics Of Wardrobe Malfunction, Adam Candeub

ExpressO

ABSTRACT: This article examines the Federal Communication Commission’s indecency regulation for television and radio. In recent years, the FCC has not only pursued high profile enforcements such as Janet Jackson’s well-known Super Bowl half time show, but perhaps more important, has issued fines against broadcasters in record amounts totaling millions of dollars. Critics claim that these enforcements are politicized, arbitrary, and chilling of free speech.

This article proposes a new, market-based mechanism for indecency regulation that avoids the pitfalls of the FCC’s current approach. The proposal focuses on the viewer--advertiser relationship, in distinction to the FCC’s regulations, which concentrate solely …

Virginia Cellular And Highland Cellular: The Fcc Establishes A Framework For Eligible Telecommunications Carrier Designation In Rural Study Areas, Mark C. Bannister

Federal Communications Law Journal

In 1996, Congress passed the first substantial rework of the Communications Act of 1934. This Act was intended to benefit consumers by encouraging competition and establishing a series of explicit mechanisms for assuring universal service. One of the outcomes is the creation of significant controversy over the federal, and in some cases, state universal service subsidy for the class of telecommunications providers typically known as wireless or cellular and defined by federal statute as "commercial mobile radio service" ("CMRS"). Incumbent local exchange carriers ("ILECs") characterize these subsidies as a windfall and as unnecessary to provide wireless phone service. They argue …

Securing The Freedom Of The Communications Revolution, Michael K. Powell

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The 2005 Communications Act Of Unintended Consequences, Daniel Brenner

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Contrasting Policies Of The Fcc And Ferc Regarding The Importance Of Open Transmission Networks In Downstream Competitive Markets, Harvey Reiter

Federal Communications Law Journal

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") and the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") have undergone a remarkable role reversal. After years of resistance to the very notion of competition in the electric and gas industries, FERC has, with considerable vigor and consistency spanning nearly two decades, promoted policies to open access both to gas pipeline and high voltage electric transmission networks to downstream competitors of the network owners. FERC has stated plainly and repeatedly that the underpinning of these policies is that open access is essential to the protection of competition in the sale of the largely deregulated services reliant upon …

Convergence And Competition-At Last, Antoinette Cook Bush, John Beahn, Mick Tuesley

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Four More Years... Of The Status Quo? How Simple Principles Can Lead Us Out Of The Regulatory Wilderness, Adam Thierer

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

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

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Recent Developments In Program Content Regulation, Richard E. Wiley, Lawrence W. Secrest

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Broadcast Flags And The War Against Digital Television Piracy: A Solution Or Dilemma For The Digital Era?, Debra Kaplan

Federal Communications Law Journal

With the advent of digital TV, many homes in the U.S. are now on the cutting edge of what is likely to be a sea change in how this country watches TV. While these homes can now begin to enjoy the numerous benefits of the technology, regulators and industry experts are working to craft responses to problems, both actual and anticipated, that the technology creates. Mindful of the piracy issues that came with the popularity of digital file formats in the music industry, the FCC addressed piracy in the digital TV context by endorsing the use of "broadcast flags" on …

Prometheus Radio Project V. Fcc: The Persistence Of Scarcity, Aaron K. Perzanowski

Faculty Publications

Part I traces the history of broadcast regulation, emphasizing the development of the scarcity doctrine and the subsequent deregulatory trend. Part II examines the FCC's 2003 rule changes and the Third Circuit's analysis of those modifications in Prometheus Radio Project v. FCC. Part III analyzes the assumptions underlying the FCC's proffered explanation for its rule changes, ultimately concluding that they lack justification, and offers suggestions for responsible ownership deregulation. Part IV calls on Congress to reassert itself as the final arbiter of media policy.

Lessons From The Nextwave Saga: The Federal Communications Commission, The Courts, And The Use Of Market Forms To Perform Public Functions, Rodger D. Citron, John A. Rogovin

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

A New Method For Regulatory Antitrust Analysis? Verizon Communications Inc. V. Trinko, James E. Scheuermann, William D. Semins

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

It is a commonplace to speak of the application of law to facts. Application is a practical art, and thus involves method. Curiously, there is a paucity of discussion of the various methods by which substantive legal standards are applied to facts. This omission is significant. Method is not outcome-determinative in all cases, but, at a minimum, it guides analysis, opening certain possibilities and foreclosing others.

Prometheus Radio Project V. Fcc: The Persistence Of Scarcity, Aaron Perzanowski

Articles

Part I traces the history of broadcast regulation, emphasizing the development of the scarcity doctrine and the subsequent deregulatory trend. Part II examines the FCC's 2003 rule changes and the Third Circuit's analysis of those modifications in Prometheus Radio Project v. FCC. Part III analyzes the assumptions underlying the FCC's proffered explanation for its rule changes, ultimately concluding that they lack justification, and offers suggestions for responsible ownership deregulation. Part IV calls on Congress to reassert itself as the final arbiter of media policy.

The Road Not Yet Traveled: Why The Fcc Should Issue Digital Must-Carry Rules For Public Television "First", Andrew D. Cotlar

Federal Communications Law Journal

After having recently adopted a variety of complex decisions concerning the digital television transition, the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") may be poised in the next year to address the issue of mandatory cable carriage of digital broadcast television signals. In this regard, it may reasonably consider the possibility of crafting digital carriage rules for public television stations first without ruling positively or negatively on carriage of commercial stations. This action may legitimately be based on the unique legislative and factual differences between the noncommercial and commercial service and would be constitutionally permissible. This Article sets forth the legal basis for …

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 …

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 …

Finding Substance In The Fcc's Policy Of "Substantial Service", Jennifer Prime

Federal Communications Law Journal

An FCC license for the use of the electromagnetic spectrum is a valuable asset, but it exists only for a limited duration. Therefore, obtaining a license renewal is vital to a licensee, especially one who has participated in an auction and made substantial investments in order to obtain the rights the license confers. This Note describes the mechanisms by which licensees obtain greater certainty that their licenses will be renewed, including the concept of renewal expectancy. One form of such expectancy is the ambiguous "substantial service" requirement. This Note explains the origins of the term, discusses its current uses, and …

Unleashing Instant Messaging From Regulatory Oversight, Fernando Laguarda

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

INTRODUCTION: { 1 } America Online, Inc. ("AOL") and Time Warner Inc. announced their intention to merge on January 10, 2000.' At that time, there was a great deal of excitement about combining these two companies and harnessing the power of an increasingly broadband Internet. In addition to the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") and Federal Communications Commission ("FCC"), more than one thousand local communities conducted their own reviews of the merger. The FTC identified "open access" to the Time Warner Cable platform as an issue meriting specific relief {2} The FCC, for its part, specifically identified "instant messaging" ("IM") as …

Unleashing “Instant Messaging” From Regulatory Oversight, Fernando R. Laguarda

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

America Online, Inc. (“AOL”) and Time Warner Inc. announced their intention to merge on January 10, 2000. At that time, there was a great deal of excitement about combining these two companies and harnessing the power of an increasingly broadband Internet. In addition to the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”), more than one thousand local communities conducted their own reviews of the merger. The FTC identified “open access” to the Time Warner Cable platform as an issue meriting specific relief.

Whatever Happened To Local News?: The “Vast Wasteland” Reconsidered, Geoffrey Cowan

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Role Of The Federal Communications Commission On The Path From The Vast Wasteland To The Fertile Plain, Kathleen Q. Abernathy

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Minow’S Viewers: Understanding The Response To The “Vast Wasteland” Address, James L. Baughman

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.