Communications Law Commons^™

No Sight Like Hindsight: The 1996 Act And The View Ten Years Later, Donna N. Lampert

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Interconnection Policy And Technological Progress, Gerald W. Brock

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Law Of Unintended Consequences, Susan Ness

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Swallows, Sausages, And The 1996 Act, Daniel B. Phythyon

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Greatest Story Never Told: How The 1996 Telecommunications Act Helped To Transform Cable's Future, Brian L. Roberts

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Politics And Telecommunications, Larry Pressler

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The 1996 Telecommunications Act, Jim Robbins

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Section 202(H) Of The Telecommunications Act Of 1996: Beware Of Intended Consequences, Andrew Jay Schwartzman, Harold Feld, Parul Desai

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Transformation: The 1996 Act Reshapes Radio, Christopher H. Sterling

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Open Video Systems: Too Much Regulation Too Late?, Micha Botein

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

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 …

'Wi-Fi'ght Them When You Can Join Them? How The Philadelphia Compromise May Have Saved Municipally-Owned Telecommunications Services, Adam Christensen

Federal Communications Law Journal

When the Mayor of Philadelphia announced his plan to provide municipally sponsored Wi-Fi Internet access, Verizon, the incumbent telecommunications service provider organized lobbyists to block the plan. The compromise eventually struck between Pennsylvania municipalities and Verizon, which allows municipalities to offer telecommunications services after giving Verizon a right of first refusal has resulted in a certain degree of uncertainty in the future of municipally sponsored Internet access. This Note examines this compromise and argues that it represents an optimistic future for municipally sponsored telecommunications services. The Note first discusses the history of Wi-Fi technology and the development of the law …

A Practitioner's View Of Broadcaster Power, Andrew J. Siegel

Federal Communications Law Journal

A Review of J. H. Snider's Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick: How Local TV Broadcasters Exert Political Power, iUniverse, Inc. 2005. Assistant General Counsel for CBS Andrew J. Siegel reviews this critique of the spectrum award given to television stations as part of The Telecommunications Act of 1996. Using a principal-agent theory, this book examines the complicated relationship between politicians, local television broadcasters, and the U.S. public in an attempt to explain why television broadcasters received the additional spectrum.

Brand X And The Wireline Broadband Report And Order: The Beginning Of The End Of The Distinction Between Title I And Title Ii Services, J. Steven Rich

Federal Communications Law Journal

This Article traces the development of the FCC's distinction between "telecommunications services" subject to common carrier services under Title II of the 1934 Communications Act and "information services" regulated under Title I of the Act from the Computer Inquiry line of cases through the Brand X decision and recent Wireline Broadband Report and Order. The Author pays particular attention to the Brand X decision and the FCC's Wireline Broadband Order and its implications, suggesting that the Order may be subject to reversal when it is challenged in court and proposing how the Commission might react to a reversal. The Author …

Cable Operators' Fifth Amendment Claims Applied To Digital Must-Carry, Nissa Laughner, Justin Brown

Federal Communications Law Journal

This Article addresses the legal and policy implications of property rights in the digital must-carry issue. The Authors review must-carry regulations, present a traditional Fifth Amendment analysis of must-carry, address free speech implications of that property-based analysis, and show how property-based claims might influence future cable regulations and policies. The Authors conclude that while the Fifth Amendment claims are unlikely to succeed legally, they do contain significant rhetorical power that can help shift public policy in ways favorable to the cable industry.

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 …

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 …

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, …

Costs And Consequences Of Federal Telecommunications Regulations, Jerry Ellig

Federal Communications Law Journal

Federal regulation of telecommunication profoundly affects United States consumers, determining what services are priced above and below cost, what kinds of technologies and services are offered and when, and what firms are allowed to compete. In this Article, the Author surveys the voluminous literature on the economic costs and outcomes of these regulations, focusing predominantly on the effects of regulation on prices, quantity, quality of service, and overall consumer and social welfare. The Author estimates costs and assesses outcomes for ten types of federal telecommunications regulated activity: telecommunications regulatory spending, long-distance access charges, universal service funding, local number portability, enhanced …

The Continuing Role Of State Policy, Jeffrey A. Hart

Federal Communications Law Journal

A review of Hernan Galperin's New Television, Old Politics: The Transition to Digital TV in the United States and Britain, Cambridge University Press, 2004. Based on comparative case studies in Britain and the United States, this book analyzes the transition to digital television in both countries, considers governmental regulatory strategies, and focuses on the impact of various factors, including political influence and market and technological changes.

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.

Measuring Media Market Diversity: Concentration, Importance, And Pluralism, Brian C. Hill

Federal Communications Law Journal

The Third Circuit's rejection of the FCC's application of its Diversity Index in setting Cross-Media Limits in Prometheus Radio Project v. FCC represented a significant setback for the FCC's media ownership policies. This Article argues that the FCC's Diversity Index is fatally flawed because it fails to simultaneously account for two assumptions shared by the FCC and the Third Circuit: diversity in a media market increases with ownership concentration, and an individual entity's contribution to diversity increases with the weighted market shares of that entity's outlets. The Author proposes an alternative index that does satisfy both assumptions before applying the …

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 …

Reclaiming Copyright, Christina Bohannan

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Challenging Standard Conceptions Of Tradition, Science And Technology In 2006: Why Laws Prohibiting The Sale Of Violent Video Games To Minors Should Be Ultimately Upheld, Ilana Lubin

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note argues that regulating the sale of violent video games to minors is constitutionally justifiable, supported by scientific evidence on adolescent brain development and legal precedents. It critiques the lack of a clear legal standard in court decisions and advocates for a nuanced approach that balances First Amendment rights with public safety concerns.

A Digital Age Communications Act Paradigm For Federal-State Relations, Kyle D. Dixon, Philip J. Weiser

Publications

This article captures the effort of the Digital Age Communications Act (DACA) to craft a new framework for the federal-state relationship in implementing a next generation telecommunications regulatory regime. In particular, it sets forth a DACA model that would implement a "rule of law" regulatory paradigm for an era of technological dynamism. This era requires, as the article explains, a coherent federal framework that circumscribes the role of state and local authorities so as to advance sound competition policy goals. The sole exception to this policy is the recognition that a basic local service rate retains both political and practical …

Catch 1201: A Legislative History And Content Analysis Of The Dmca Exemption Proceedings, Bill D. Herman, Oscar H. Gandy Jr.

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1) prohibits circumventing a technological protection measure (TPM) that effectively controls access to a copyrighted work. In the name of mitigating the innocent casualties of this new ban, Congress constructed a triennial rulemaking, administered by the Register of Copyrights, to determine temporary exemptions. This paper considers the legislative history of this rulemaking, and it reports the results of a systematic content analysis of its 2000 and 2003 proceedings.

Inspired by the literature on political agendas, policymaking institutions, venue shifting, and theories of delegation, we conclude that the legislative motivations for § 1201 were laundered through international treaties, …

Sailing Toward Safe Harbor Hours: The Constitutionality Of Regulating Television Violence, Eric C. Chaffee

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Because of the recent focus on television violence, it is more a question of "when," rather than "if," Congress will take action on this issue. "Safe harbor" regulation, or restricting violent programming to certain hours of the day, is one form of regulation that is recurrently suggested as a means for dealing with the potential ills created by television violence. The possibility of such regulation implicates numerous constitutional issues. This Article addresses whether "safe harbor" regulation of television violence is feasible without violating the First Amendment and other provisions of the Constitution.

Breaking The Bank: Revisiting Central Bank Of Denver After Enron And Sarbanes-Oxley, Celia Taylor

ExpressO

No abstract provided.