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109-722: On May 24, 1979, the Federal Communications Commission granted a construction permit for a new standard broadcast station at 1010 kHz with 500 watts of power, daytime only. On November 24, 1980, the permit was modified to allow a maximum power of 5,000 watts. After several extensions, and nearly five years after the initial application was filed in June 1977, the FCC granted WPYK a license to cover on April 28, 1982. In April 1985, Mid-Way Radio reached an agreement to sell this station to James O. Powell (trading as JASCO). The deal

218-534: A natural monopoly . The FCC controlled telephone rates and imposed other restrictions under Title II to limit the profits of AT&T and ensure nondiscriminatory pricing. In the 1960s, the FCC began allowing other long-distance companies, namely MCI, to offer specialized services. In the 1970s, the FCC allowed other companies to expand offerings to the public. A lawsuit in 1982 led by the Justice Department after AT&T underpriced other companies, resulted in

327-619: A "wireless" high-speed connection, but the report authors suspect that many of these consumers have mistakenly reported wireless connections to a wired DSL or cable connection. Another Pew Research Center survey, results of which were published on February 27, 2014, revealed 68% of American adults connect to the Internet with mobile devices like smartphones or tablet computers. The report also put Internet usage by American adults as high as 87%, while young adults aged between 18 and 29 were at 97%. In measurements made between April and June 2013 (Q2),

436-578: A cost of $ 17.3 million per year in 1996 dollars. Prior to the Portals, the FCC had space in six buildings at and around 19th Street NW and M Street NW. The FCC first solicited bids for a new headquarters complex in 1989. In 1991 the GSA selected the Portals site. The FCC had wanted to move into a more expensive area along Pennsylvania Avenue . In 1934, Congress passed the Communications Act , which abolished

545-501: A monopoly in a certain geographic area. Lack of competition has also been attributed to past stringent regulation from federal, state, and local levels, which raises barriers to entry. Specifically, such criticism has referenced limitations regarding access to and development of the physical infrastructure necessary to broadband, including right-of-way to land and ownership of utility poles. The Rural Broadband Association, an organization representing rural-centric providers, has pointed to

654-490: A preemption petition requested by local utility boards in North Carolina and Tennessee over the state laws that, as a result of private provider lobbying, had legally prevented municipalities from entering the broadband market. To reduce costs and expand the market, the FCC has also approved a "Dig Once" policy—a mandate that requires cities to implement broadband conduits during construction of federally-funded roads. Because

763-630: A reasonable price. When Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 it provided for the creation of a Universal Service Fund to help meet the challenges and opportunities of the digital information age. The Universal Service Fund (USF) was established in 1997 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to implement the goals of the Telecommunications Act. The Telecommunications Act requires all telecommunications companies to make equitable and non-discriminatory contributions to

872-424: A single Internet subscription may be shared by many people and a single person may have more than one subscription, the penetration rate will not reflect the actual level of access to broadband Internet of the population and penetration rates larger than 100% are possible. A 2013 Pew study on home broadband adoption found that 70% of consumers have a high-speed broadband connection. About a third of consumers reported

981-410: A situation he found "perplexing". These efforts later were documented in a 2015 Harvard Case Study. In 2017, Christine Calvosa replaced Bray as the acting CIO of FCC. On January 4, 2023, the FCC voted unanimously to create a newly formed Space Bureau and Office of International Affairs within the agency, replacing the existing International Bureau. FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel explained that

1090-537: A study by the Fibre Broadband Association estimated that only 43% of US households had access to fibre optic connections with "Tier 1" providers such as AT&T, Verizon, Lumen five others building 72% of fiber coverage in the United States. FCC data as of 2019 indicated that some 21.3 million Americans lacked access to fixed broadband with speeds of at 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up. Attempts by

1199-485: A wide range of speeds and costs. In 2000, a majority of U.S. households had at least one personal computer and internet access the following year. In September 2007, a majority of U.S. survey respondents reported having broadband internet at home. In 2019, the United States ranked 3rd in the world for the number of internet users (behind China and India), with 312.32 million users. As of 2019, 90% of adults in America use

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1308-650: A year in funding over several years to a new Connect America Fund focused on expanding broadband deployment. More formally known as the Schools and Libraries Program, the E-Rate is funded from the Universal Service Fund. The E-Rate provides discounts to K-12 schools and libraries in the United States to reduce the cost of installing and maintaining telecommunications services, Internet access, and internal connections. The discounts available range from 20% to 90% depending on

1417-534: Is decentralised and privatised, the construction of internet infrastructure is also fragmented and driven by profit instead of public need. Given this, government attempts at funding roll out of infrastructure in rural and under-served areas where no financial incentive exists to for private companies to build any remains slow and costly, since the US government is forced to subsidise private ISP's to construct fibre optic cable networks and other key infrastructure. As of 2022,

1526-401: Is organized into seven bureaus, each headed by a "chief" that is appointed by the chair of the commission. Bureaus process applications for licenses and other filings, analyze complaints, conduct investigations, develop and implement regulations, and participate in hearings . The FCC has twelve staff offices. The FCC's offices provide support services to the bureaus. The FCC leases space in

1635-624: The ARPANET in the 1960s and the funding of the National Science Foundation Network (NSFnet) in the 1980s. It led to the development of the National Information Infrastructure and included funding for a series of projects under the titles National Research and Education Network (NREN) and High-Performance Computing and Communications Initiative which spurred many significant technological developments, such as

1744-488: The ARPANET , a network sponsored by the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense during the 1960s. The Internet in the United States of America in turn provided the foundation for the worldwide Internet of today. Internet connections in the United States are largely provided by the private sector and are available in a variety of forms, using a variety of technologies, at

1853-686: The Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005 sponsored by then-Senator Sam Brownback , a former broadcaster himself, and endorsed by Congressman Fred Upton of Michigan who authored a similar bill in the United States House of Representatives . The new law stiffens the penalties for each violation of the Act. The Federal Communications Commission will be able to impose fines in the amount of $ 325,000 for each violation by each station that violates decency standards. The legislation raised

1962-520: The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). The report limited the amount of time during the day and at what times the networks may broadcast. Previously a network could demand any time it wanted from a Network affiliate . The second concerned artist bureaus. The networks served as both agents and employers of artists, which was a conflict of interest the report rectified. In assigning television stations to various cities after World War II ,

2071-452: The Communications Act of 1934 and amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (amendment to 47 U.S.C. §151), is to "make available so far as possible, to all the people of the United States, without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex, rapid, efficient, nationwide, and world-wide wire and radio communication services with adequate facilities at reasonable charges." The act furthermore provides that

2180-614: The Federal Radio Commission and transferred jurisdiction over radio licensing to a new Federal Communications Commission, including in it also the telecommunications jurisdiction previously handled by the Interstate Commerce Commission. Title II of the Communications Act focused on telecommunications using many concepts borrowed from railroad legislation and Title III contained provisions very similar to

2289-542: The First Amendment to the United States Constitution . These protections extend to the Internet and as a result very little government mandated technical filtering occurs in the U.S. Nevertheless, the Internet in the United States is highly regulated, supported by a complex set of legally binding and privately mediated mechanisms. After a decade and half of ongoing contentious debate over content regulation,

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2398-470: The Mosaic web browser , and the creation of a high-speed fiber optic computer network . The HPCA provided the framework for the transition of the Internet from a largely government sponsored network to the commercial Internet that followed. The National Science Foundation banned commercial ISPs, permitting only government agencies and universities to use the internet until 1989. "The World" materialized as

2507-548: The Radio Act of 1927 . The initial organization of the FCC was effected July 17, 1934, in three divisions, Broadcasting, Telegraph, and Telephone. Each division was led by two of the seven commissioners, with the FCC chairman being a member of each division. The organizing meeting directed the divisions to meet on July 18, July 19, and July 20, respectively. In 1940, the Federal Communications Commission issued

2616-488: The breakup of the Bell System from AT&T. Beginning in 1984, the FCC implemented a new goal that all long-distance companies had equal access to the local phone companies' customers. Effective January 1, 1984, the Bell System's many member-companies were variously merged into seven independent "Regional Holding Companies", also known as Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), or "Baby Bells". This divestiture reduced

2725-400: The telephone or cable networks). Dial-up access is a connection to the Internet through a phone line , creating a semi-permanent link to the Internet. Operating on a single channel, it monopolizes the phone line and is the slowest method of accessing the Internet. Dial-up is often the only form of Internet access available in rural areas because it requires no infrastructure other than

2834-601: The "Report on Chain Broadcasting " which was led by new FCC chairman James Lawrence Fly (and Telford Taylor as general counsel). The major point in the report was the breakup of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), which ultimately led to the creation of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), but there were two other important points. One was network option time, the culprit here being

2943-647: The $ 2.25 billion that is available, so while all eligible schools and libraries receive some discounts, some do not receive all of the discounts to which they are entitled under the rules of the program. Seventy-eight percent of rural community members have internet access. Like the E-Rate, the Rural Health Care Program (RHC) is funded from the Universal Service Fund . It provides funding to eligible health care providers for telecommunications services, including broadband Internet access, necessary for

3052-457: The 1960s All-Channel Receiver Act ), to make UHF viable against entrenched VHF stations. In markets where there were no VHF stations and UHF was the only TV service available, UHF survived. In other markets, which were too small to financially support a television station, too close to VHF outlets in nearby cities, or where UHF was forced to compete with more than one well-established VHF station, UHF had little chance for success. Denver had been

3161-603: The 50 states, the District of Columbia , and the territories of the United States . The FCC also provides varied degrees of cooperation, oversight, and leadership for similar communications bodies in other countries in North America. The FCC is funded entirely by regulatory fees. It has an estimated fiscal-2022 budget of US $ 388 million. It has 1,482 federal employees as of July 2020. The FCC's mission, specified in Section One of

3270-666: The Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, and made substantial modifications to Title VI in the Cable Television and Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992. Further modifications to promote cross-modal competition (telephone, video, etc.) were made in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, leading to the current regulatory structure. Broadcast television and radio stations are subject to FCC regulations including restrictions against indecency or obscenity. The Supreme Court has repeatedly held, beginning soon after

3379-495: The Commission also refrains (or "forbears") from enforcing provisions of Title II that are not relevant to modern broadband service. Together Title II and Section 706 support clear rules of the road, providing the certainty needed for innovators and investors, and the competitive choices and freedom demanded by consumers. The new rules apply to both fixed and mobile broadband service. This approach recognizes advances in technology and

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3488-462: The DSL market, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 required incumbent local exchange carriers to lease lines to consumers to competitive local exchange carriers , but changes to FCC regulations in 2005 significantly weakened these requirements. In the cable broadband market, the 1996 law also allowed cable companies to consolidate, resulting in a small number of large companies, which agreed to give each one

3597-522: The FCC a legal basis for imposing net neutrality rules (see below), after earlier attempts to impose such rules on an "information service" had been overturned in court. In 2005, the FCC formally established the following principles: To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, Consumers are entitled to access the lawful Internet content of their choice; Consumers are entitled to run applications and use services of their choice, subject to

3706-488: The FCC approved the FCC Open Internet Order banning cable television and telephone service providers from preventing access to competitors or certain web sites such as Netflix . The rules would not keep ISPs from charging more for faster access. On February 26, 2015, the FCC's Open Internet rules went into effect when the FCC designated the Internet as a telecommunications tool and applied to it new "rules of

3815-479: The FCC found that it placed many stations too close to each other, resulting in interference. At the same time, it became clear that the designated VHF channels, 2 through 13, were inadequate for nationwide television service. As a result, the FCC stopped giving out construction permits for new licenses in October 1948, under the direction of Chairman Rosel H. Hyde . Most expected this "Freeze" to last six months, but as

3924-621: The FCC in July 2009 during their request for authority to remain silent. The FCC granted the request on September 17, 2009, with a November 28, 2009, expiration date. The station reported that they resumed broadcasting on November 28, 2009, ending nearly two years of silence. If the station had been continuously silent for a full year, the broadcast license would have been subject to forfeiture and cancellation. After more than 20 months of regular operation, WCOC fell silent again on August 12, 2011. In their November 2011 request for authority to remain silent,

4033-539: The FCC in the newly created post of associate general counsel/chief diversity officer. Numerous controversies have surrounded the city of license concept as the internet has made it possible to broadcast a single signal to every owned station in the nation at once, particularly when Clear Channel, now IHeartMedia , became the largest FM broadcasting corporation in the US after the Telecommunications Act of 1996 became law - owning over 1,200 stations at its peak. As part of its license to buy more radio stations, Clear Channel

4142-437: The FCC indicated that the public largely believed that the severe consolidation of media ownership had resulted in harm to diversity, localism, and competition in media, and was harmful to the public interest. David A. Bray joined the commission in 2013 as chief information officer and quickly announced goals of modernizing the FCC's legacy information technology (IT) systems, citing 200 different systems for only 1750 people

4251-403: The FCC said that nearly 55 million Americans did not have access to broadband capable of delivering high-quality voice, data, graphics and video offerings. On February 26, 2015, the FCC reclassified broadband Internet access as a telecommunications service, thus subjecting it to Title II regulation, although several exemptions were also created. The reclassification was done in order to give

4360-527: The FCC was created "for the purpose of the national defense" and "for the purpose of promoting safety of life and property through the use of wire and radio communications." Consistent with the objectives of the act as well as the 1999 Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), the FCC has identified four goals in its 2018–22 Strategic Plan. They are: Closing the Digital Divide, Promoting Innovation, Protecting Consumers & Public Safety, and Reforming

4469-554: The FCC's Processes. The FCC is directed by five commissioners appointed by the president of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate for five-year terms, except when filling an unexpired term. The U.S. president designates one of the commissioners to serve as chairman. No more than three commissioners may be members of the same political party . None of them may have a financial interest in any FCC-related business. Commissioners may continue serving until

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4578-510: The FCC, which regulated AT&T's long-line charges, but the commission took no action. The result was that financially marginal DuMont was spending as much in long-line charge as CBS or NBC while using only about 10 to 15 percent of the time and mileage of either larger network. The FCC's "Sixth Report & Order" ended the Freeze. It took five years for the US to grow from 108 stations to more than 550. New stations came on line slowly, only five by

4687-422: The Internet can be divided into dial-up and broadband access . Around the start of the 21st century, most residential access was by dial-up, while access from businesses was usually by higher speed connections. In subsequent years dial-up declined in favor of broadband access. Both types of access generally use a modem , which converts digital data to analog for transmission over a particular analog network (ex.

4796-447: The Internet grew steadily through 2007, and declined slightly in 2008 and 2009. Growth resumed in 2010, and reached its highest level so far (81.0%) in 2012, the latest year for which data is available. 81.0% is slightly above the 2012 figure of 73% for all developed countries. Based on these figures the U.S. ranked 12th out of 206 countries in 2000, fell to 31st out of 209 by 2010, and was back up slightly to 28th out of 211 in 2012. In 2012

4905-458: The Internet is free of all tax. In fact, nearly all online transactions are subject to one form of tax or another. The Internet Tax Freedom Act merely prevents states from imposing their sales tax, or any other kind of gross receipts tax, on certain online services. For example, a state may impose an income or franchise tax on the net income earned by the provider of online services, while the same state would be precluded from imposing its sales tax on

5014-404: The Internet, cable services and wireless services has raised questions whether new legislative initiatives are needed as to competition in what has come to be called 'broadband' services. Congress has monitored developments but as of 2009 has not undertaken a major revision of applicable regulation. The Local Community Radio Act in the 111th Congress has gotten out of committee and will go before

5123-619: The Sentinel Square III building in northeast Washington, D.C. Prior to moving to its new headquarters in October 2020, the FCC leased space in the Portals building in southwest Washington, D.C. Construction of the Portals building was scheduled to begin on March 1, 1996. In January 1996, the General Services Administration signed a lease with the building's owners, agreeing to let the FCC lease 450,000 sq ft (42,000 m ) of space in Portals for 20 years, at

5232-463: The U.S. figure of 81.0% was similar to those of France (83.0%), Belgium (82.0%), Australia (82.3%), Austria (81.0%), Slovakia (80%), Kuwait (79.2%), and Japan (79.1%). The figures for the top ten countries in 2012 ranged from 91.0% for Finland to 96.9% for the Falkland Islands. Internet usage in the United States varies widely from state to state. For example, in the U.S. overall in 2011, 77.9% of

5341-492: The US government to roll out or upgrade key internet infrastructure in any uniform or integrated way remain strongly influenced by corporate interests, lobbying at both the state and federal level and objections to what is perceived as government intervention in free market dynamics. A lack of competition and consumer choice in the broadband provider market has been cited as the primary reason Internet costs can be high and speeds and access can be poor even in urban areas. In

5450-541: The USF. Under the supervision of the FCC, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), is responsible for allocating money from the central fund to four programs: High Cost, Low Income, Rural Health Care, and Schools and Libraries (E-rate). These programs are designed to: Telecommunications companies may, but are not required to, charge their customers a fee to recover the costs of contributing to

5559-514: The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defined broadband as any connection with a download speed of at least 25 Mbit/s and an upload speed of at least 3 Mbit/s, though the definition has used a slower speed in the past. In March 2024, the FCC increased the minimums to 100 Mbit/s downloads and 20 Mbit/s uploads for defining broadband. The percentage of the U.S. population using

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5668-484: The United States accelerated an already ongoing shift in the FCC towards a decidedly more market-oriented stance. A number of regulations felt to be outdated were removed, most controversially the Fairness Doctrine in 1987. In terms of indecency fines, there was no action taken by the FCC on the case FCC v. Pacifica until 1987, about ten years after the landmark United States Supreme Court decision that defined

5777-494: The United States are owned by private ISP's as opposed to the state, this in conjunction with high concentration of market share among four major players: AT&T (41.4%), Comcast (36.1%), Charter (33.4%) and Verizon (17.4%) as of 2021 allows for the creation of local monopolies whereby providers have little incentive to compete with each other or enter other providers' "territory" in order to fix prices and maintain market share. Since ownership of underlying infrastructure

5886-490: The United States occurs at the private or voluntary level. The broadband Internet access providers in the United States with more than one million subscribers at the end of Q2 2018 were: Mbit/s: Megabit per second Gbit/s: Gigabit per second (1 Gbit/s = 1000 Mbit/s) In 2010, four of these companies ranked among the ten largest ISPs in the world in terms of subscribers: Comcast (4th), AT&T (5th), Time Warner (now Charter Spectrum) (7th), and Verizon (8th). With

5995-640: The United States ranked 8th out of 55 countries with an average connection speed of 8.7 Mbit/s. This represents an increase from 14th out of 49 countries and 5.3 Mbit/s for January to March 2011 (Q1). The global average for Q2 2013 was 3.3 Mbit/s, up from 2.1 Mbit/s for Q1 2011. In Q2 2013 South Korea ranked first at 13.3 Mbit/s, followed by Japan at 12.0 Mbit/s, and Switzerland at 11.0 Mbit/s. Unlike in countries such as China, Japan and New Zealand, internet infrastructure such as fibre optic cables , 4G LTE , 5G base stations , DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) and satellite networks in

6104-541: The United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction over the areas of broadband access , fair competition , radio frequency use, media responsibility, public safety, and homeland security . The FCC was formed by the Communications Act of 1934 to replace the radio regulation functions of the previous Federal Radio Commission . The FCC took over wire communication regulation from the Interstate Commerce Commission . The FCC's mandated jurisdiction covers

6213-516: The Universal Service fund. Consumers may see this reflected in a line-item charge labeled "Universal Service" on telecommunications bills. The amount of this charge, if any, and the method used to collect the fee from consumers is determined by the companies and is not mandated by the FCC. In October 2011 the FCC voted to phase out the USF's high-cost program that has been subsidizing voice telephone services in rural areas by shifting $ 4.5 billion

6322-505: The advent of the World Wide Web , the commercialization of the Internet, and its spread beyond use within the government and the research and education communities in the 1990s, Internet access became an important public policy and political issue. The High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991 (HPCA), Pub. L.   102–194 , built on prior U.S. efforts toward developing a national networking infrastructure, starting with

6431-591: The allocation of channels to the emerging UHF technology and the eagerly awaited possibilities of color television were debated, the FCC's re-allocation map of stations did not come until April 1952, with July 1, 1952, as the official beginning of licensing new stations. Other FCC actions hurt the fledgling DuMont and ABC networks. American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) forced television coaxial cable users to rent additional radio long lines , discriminating against DuMont, which had no radio network operation. DuMont and ABC protested AT&T's television policies to

6540-509: The already existing telephone network. Dial-up connections typically do not exceed a speed of 56 kbit/s , because they are primarily made via a 56k modem . Broadband access includes a wide range of speeds and technologies, all of which provide much faster access to the Internet than dial-up. The term " broadband " once had a technical meaning, but today it is more often used as a marketing buzzword to simply mean "faster". Broadband connections are continuous or "always on" connections, without

6649-438: The appointment of their replacements. However, they may not serve beyond the end of the next session of Congress following term expiration. In practice, this means that commissioners may serve up to 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 years beyond the official term expiration listed above if no replacement is appointed. This would end on the date that Congress adjourns its annual session, generally no later than noon on January 3. The FCC

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6758-572: The book value of AT&T by approximately 70%. The FCC initially exempted "information services" such as broadband Internet access from regulation under Title II. The FCC held that information services were distinct from telecommunications services that are subject to common carrier regulation. However, Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 required the FCC to help accelerate deployment of "advanced telecommunications capability" which included high-quality voice, data, graphics, and video, and to regularly assess its availability. In August 2015,

6867-444: The commission in 1934 comprised the following seven members: The complete list of commissioners is available on the FCC website. Frieda B. Hennock (D-NY) was the first female commissioner of the FCC in 1948. The FCC regulates broadcast stations, repeater stations as well as commercial broadcasting operators who operate and repair certain radiotelephone , radio and television stations. Broadcast licenses are to be renewed if

6976-402: The conclusion and ultimately delayed their entrance in that particular geography. To remedy this anti-competitive climate, governments have worked to minimize costs entrants may incur. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 expanded access rights to pole attachments for ISPs with federal subsidies in an aim to encourage provider participation. In 2015, the Federal Communications Commission granted

7085-535: The construction of 62 statewide or regional broadband telehealth networks in 42 states and three U.S. territories under the Rural Health Care Pilot Program. The Healthcare Connect Fund (HCF) is a new component of the Rural Health Care Program. The HCF will provide a 65 percent discount on eligible expenses related to broadband Internet connectivity to both individual rural health care providers (HCPs) and consortia, which can include non-rural HCPs (if

7194-414: The conversion, Congress established a federally sponsored DTV Converter Box Coupon Program for two free converters per household. The FCC regulates telecommunications services under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. Title II imposes common carrier regulation under which carriers offering their services to the general public must provide services to all customers and may not discriminate based on

7303-413: The country is still very far from reaching political consensus on the acceptable limits of free speech and the best means of protecting minors and policing illegal activity on the Internet. Gambling, cyber security, and dangers to children who frequent social networking sites—real and perceived—are important ongoing debates. Significant public resistance to proposed content restriction policies have prevented

7412-559: The driveway that connects a home to the vast network of destinations on the internet, and net neutrality is the principle that prevents ISPs from slowing some traffic or charging a premium fee for other traffic. On August 5, 2005, the FCC reclassified some services as information services rather than telecommunications services, and replaced common carrier requirements on them with a set of four less-restrictive net neutrality principles. These principles, however, are not FCC rules, and therefore not enforceable requirements. Actually implementing

7521-421: The end of November 1952. The Sixth Report and Order required some existing television stations to change channels, but only a few existing VHF stations were required to move to UHF, and a handful of VHF channels were deleted altogether in smaller media markets like Peoria , Fresno , Bakersfield and Fort Wayne, Indiana to create markets which were UHF "islands." The report also set aside a number of channels for

7630-486: The end of the digital television transition. After delaying the original deadlines of 2006, 2008, and eventually February 17, 2009, on concerns about elderly and rural folk, on June 12, 2009, all full-power analog terrestrial TV licenses in the U.S. were terminated as part of the DTV transition , leaving terrestrial television available only from digital channels and a few low-power LPTV stations. To help U.S. consumers through

7739-544: The expensive permits and procedural delays in preventing "universal" broadband access. For rural areas such as the ones the RBA represents, financial returns can be insufficient and thus private actors have little incentive to compete over another in establishing relevant facilities. This problem is particularly salient for indigenous parts of the U.S, where tribal lands "have some of the lowest internet access rates of any demographic". Policy goals of equity, not profit, have been driving

7848-483: The federal Internet Tax Freedom Act halted the expansion of direct taxation of the Internet that had begun in several states in the mid-1990s. The law, however, did not affect sales taxes applied to online purchases which continue to be taxed at varying rates depending on the jurisdiction, in the same way that phone and mail orders are taxed. The absence of direct taxation of the Internet does not mean that all transactions taking place online are free of tax, or even that

7957-463: The few access projects targeted towards these communities as a result of unrewarding demand. In other circumstances, where demand is high enough to propel investment, the fixed costs associated with building broadband infrastructure are high enough to deter even the larger providers. Sprint claims it spent "tens of millions of dollars" in their checking for compliance with NEPA, a set of environmental impact regulations, that found "no significant impact" by

8066-629: The financial price of laying down fiber constitutes such a large portion of deployment costs, measures sympathetic towards this step of entrance make it easier for more actors to invest. A number of counties have also issued ordinances or grants that waive or offset certain fees associated with building infrastructure in order to encourage broadband building projects. Outside of regulatory and legislative action, states have at their disposal informal policies that offer other incentives for investment, such as collecting and providing local data to streamline deployment action or communication efforts. In 1998

8175-423: The fine ten times over the previous maximum of $ 32,500 per violation. The FCC has established rules limiting the national share of media ownership of broadcast radio or television stations. It has also established cross-ownership rules limiting ownership of a newspaper and broadcast station in the same market, in order to ensure a diversity of viewpoints in each market and serve the needs of each local market. In

8284-446: The first commercial ISP. By 1991, the NSF lifted the ban and the commercial ISP business grew rapidly. Universal service is a program dating back to early in the 20th century with a goal to encourage/require the interconnection of telephone networks operated by different providers. Over time this grew into the more general goal of providing telephone service to everyone in the United States at

8393-598: The first post-Freeze construction permits. KFEL (now KWGN-TV )'s first regular telecast was on July 21, 1952. In 1996, Congress enacted the Telecommunications Act of 1996 , in the wake of the breakup of AT&T resulting from the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust suit against AT&T. The legislation attempted to create more competition in local telephone service by requiring Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers to provide access to their facilities for Competitive Local Exchange Carriers . This policy has thus far had limited success and much criticism. The development of

8502-460: The government has been able to exert pressure indirectly where it cannot directly censor. With the exception of child pornography, content restrictions tend to rely more on the removal of content than blocking; most often these controls rely upon the involvement of private parties, backed by state encouragement or the threat of legal action. In contrast to much of the rest of the world, where ISPs are subject to state mandates, most content regulation in

8611-503: The gross receipts of that provider. In the United States, net neutrality , the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) treat all data on the Internet the same, and not discriminate, has been an issue of contention between network users and access providers since the 1990s. To elucidate the term "net neutrality", one can apply a metaphor that was given and illustrated by Michael Goodwin: In his illustration, he illustrates ISPs as

8720-531: The growing significance of mobile broadband Internet access in recent years. These rules will protect consumers no matter how they access the Internet, whether on a desktop computer or a mobile device." In summary the new rules are as follows: On December 14, 2017, the FCC voted to reverse the 2015 Title II classifications of ISPs, and the classifications fell out of use on June 11, 2018. The strong protections for freedom of speech and expression against federal, state, and local government censorship are rooted in

8829-435: The house floor with bi-partisan support, and unanimous support of the FCC. By passing the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress also eliminated the cap on the number of radio stations any one entity could own nationwide and also substantially loosened local radio station ownership restrictions. Substantial radio consolidation followed. Restrictions on ownership of television stations were also loosened. Public comments to

8938-446: The identity of the customer or the content of the communication. This is similar to and adapted from the regulation of transportation providers (railroad, airline, shipping, etc.) and some public utilities. Wireless carriers providing telecommunications services are also generally subject to Title II regulation except as exempted by the FCC. The FCC regulates interstate telephone services under Title II. The Telecommunications Act of 1996

9047-476: The internet at all." Fixed (wired) and wireless broadband penetration have grown steadily, reaching peaks of 28.0% and 89.8% respectively in 2012. These rates place the U.S. above the world average of 25.9% for fixed broadband in developed countries and well above the average of 62.8% for wireless broadband in OECD countries. Wireless broadband subscriptions in the U.S. are primarily mobile-cellular broadband. Because

9156-687: The internet, either irregularly or frequently. The United States ranks #1 in the world with 7,000 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) according to the CIA. Internet bandwidth per Internet user was the 43rd highest in the world in 2016. Internet top-level domain names specific to the U.S. include .us , .edu , .gov , .mil , .as (American Samoa), .gu (Guam), .mp (Northern Mariana Islands), .pr (Puerto Rico), and .vi (U.S. Virgin Islands). Many U.S.-based organizations and individuals also use generic top-level domains , such as .com , .net , and .org . Access to

9265-518: The largest U.S. city without a TV station by 1952. Senator Edwin Johnson (D-Colorado), chair of the Senate's Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee , had made it his personal mission to make Denver the first post-Freeze station. The senator had pressured the FCC, and proved ultimately successful as the first new station (a VHF station) came on-line a remarkable ten days after the commission formally announced

9374-505: The license holder cited "financial difficulties" as the reason for taking the station off the air. The FCC granted this authority on January 4, 2012, with a July 2, 2012, scheduled expiration. On November 3, 2014, WCOC's license was turned in to the FCC. Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission ( FCC ) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio , television , wire, satellite , and cable across

9483-413: The more extreme measures used in some other countries from taking hold in the U.S. Public dialogue, legislative debate, and judicial review have produced filtering strategies in the United States that are different from those found in most of the rest of the world. Many government-mandated attempts to regulate content have been barred on First Amendment grounds, often after lengthy legal battles. However,

9592-486: The move was done to improve the FCC's "coordination across the federal government" and to "support the 21st-century satellite industry." The decision to establish the Space Bureau was reportedly done to improve the agency's capacity to regulate Satellite Internet access . The new bureau officially launched on April 11, 2023. The commissioners of the FCC are: The initial group of FCC commissioners after establishment of

9701-416: The need to dial and hangup, and do not monopolize phone lines. Common types of broadband access include DSL (digital subscriber lines), which uses a telephone line , cable Internet access , satellite Internet access , and mobile or wireless broadband , via cell phones or a mobile broadband modem , through a cellular or wireless network , and from a cell tower . In 2015,

9810-496: The needs of law enforcement; Consumers are entitled to connect their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network; Consumers are entitled to competition among network providers, application and service providers, and content providers. However, broadband providers were permitted to engage in "reasonable network management." Internet in the United States The Internet in the United States grew out of

9919-495: The negative effects of media concentration and consolidation on racial-ethnic diversity in staffing and programming. At these Latino town hall meetings, the issue of the FCC's lax monitoring of obscene and pornographic material in Spanish-language radio and the lack of racial and national-origin diversity among Latino staff in Spanish-language television were other major themes. President Barack Obama appointed Mark Lloyd to

10028-482: The newly emerging field of educational television , which hindered struggling ABC and DuMont 's quest for affiliates in the more desirable markets where VHF channels were reserved for non-commercial use. The Sixth Report and Order also provided for the "intermixture" of VHF and UHF channels in most markets; UHF transmitters in the 1950s were not yet powerful enough, nor receivers sensitive enough (if they included UHF tuners at all - they were not formally required until

10137-577: The passage of the Communications Act of 1934, that the inherent scarcity of radio spectrum allows the government to impose some types of content restrictions on broadcast license holders notwithstanding the First Amendment. Cable and satellite providers are also subject to some content regulations under Title VI of the Communications Act such as the prohibition on obscenity, although the limitations are not as restrictive compared to broadcast stations. The 1981 inauguration of Ronald Reagan as President of

10246-518: The population used the Internet. But in that same year (2011), there was a large gap in usage between the top three states - Washington (80.0%), New Hampshire (79.8%) and Minnesota (79.0%) - and the bottom three states - Mississippi (59.0%), New Mexico (60.4%) and Arkansas (61.4%). According to an April 2018 article in Motherboard , "In every single state, a portion of the population doesn't have access to broadband, and some have no access to

10355-429: The poverty level and urban/rural status of the communities where the schools and libraries are located. There has been a good deal of controversy surrounding the E-Rate, including legal challenges from states and telecommunications companies. The impact of the program is hard to measure, but at the beginning of 2005 over 100,000 schools had participated in the program. Annual requests for discounts are roughly three times

10464-466: The power of the FCC over indecent material as applied to broadcasting. After the 1990s had passed, the FCC began to increase its censorship and enforcement of indecency regulations in the early 2000s to include a response to the Janet Jackson " wardrobe malfunction " that occurred during the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXVIII . Then on June 15, 2006, President George W. Bush signed into law

10573-687: The principles requires either official FCC rule-making or federal legislation. On June 6, 2010, the United States Court of Appeal for the District of Columbia in Comcast Corp. v. FCC ruled that the FCC lacks the authority as an information service, under the ancillary statutory authority of Title One of the Communications Act of 1934 , to force Internet service providers to keep their networks open, while employing reasonable network management practices, to all forms of legal content. On December 21, 2010,

10682-534: The provision of health care. The goal of the program is to improve the quality of health care available to patients in rural communities by ensuring that eligible health care providers have access to affordable telecommunications services, most often to implement "tele-health and tele-medicine" services, typically a combination of video-conferencing infrastructure and high speed Internet access, to enable doctors and patients in rural hospitals to access specialists in distant cities. Over $ 417 million has been allocated for

10791-417: The road". "[Open Internet Rules are] designed to protect free expression and innovation on the Internet and promote investment in the nation's broadband networks. The Open Internet rules are grounded in the strongest possible legal foundation by relying on multiple sources of authority, including: Title II of the Communications Act and Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. As part of this decision,

10900-900: The second half of 2006, groups such as the National Hispanic Media Coalition, the National Latino Media Council, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the National Institute for Latino Policy , the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and others held town hall meetings in California, New York and Texas on media diversity as its effects Latinos and minority communities. They documented widespread and deeply felt community concerns about

11009-442: The station filed for an extension of this temporary stay silent authority. The September 2008 filing also states that negotiations were then in progress for the sale of this radio station. On November 19, 2008, the FCC granted the requested extension with a scheduled expiration date of May 18, 2009. The station resumed broadcasting on November 25, 2008, but fell silent again just days later on November 29, 2008. They belatedly informed

11118-411: The station informed the FCC that it would be going off the air on December 1, 2007, due to "financial difficulties being experienced by the licensee." The application noted that the station would resume broadcast operations "following a reassessment of station operations to determine a means to improve station revenues" and requested authority to stay silent pending this reassessment. On September 26, 2008,

11227-435: The station meets the "public interest, convenience, or necessity". The FCC's enforcement powers include fines and broadcast license revocation (see FCC MB Docket 04-232). Burden of proof would be on the complainant in a petition to deny. The FCC first promulgated rules for cable television in 1965, with cable and satellite television now regulated by the FCC under Title VI of the Communications Act. Congress added Title VI in

11336-469: The station's call letters changed by the FCC to WCOC on April 4, 2002. At the time of the sale, Javier Macias owned three other radio stations: WAZX and WAZX-FM serving Atlanta, Georgia , and WGTA near Rome, Georgia . Together, these stations were operated as a network under the branding "Radio La Que Buena" featuring Regional Mexican music and other Spanish-language programming, including Atlanta Braves baseball broadcasts. On November 28, 2007,

11445-419: The station's call letters to WDLE on November 30, 1987. On June 4, 1988, the station had its call letters changed back to WPYK . In August 1988, Earl Fisher reached an agreement to sell this station to Casey & Perkins Broadcasting. The deal was approved by the FCC on October 3, 1988. In January 1990, Casey & Perkins Broadcasting reached an agreement to sell this station to Paul Tate Johnson. The deal

11554-416: Was approved by the FCC on April 2, 1990, and the transaction was consummated on June 20, 1990. In December 2001, Paul Tate Johnson reached an agreement to sell this station to Azteca Communications of Alabama, Inc (Javier Macias, owner). The station was sold for a reported $ 190,000. The deal was approved by the FCC on February 12, 2002, and the transaction was consummated on April 4, 2002. The new owners had

11663-400: Was approved by the FCC on May 17, 1985, and after a significant delay the transaction was finally consummated on April 11, 1986. The same day, April 11, 1986, James O. Powell (trading as JASCO) reached an agreement to sell this station to Earl Fisher. The deal was approved by the FCC on May 20, 1986, and the transaction was consummated on May 30, 1986. The new owners petitioned the FCC to change

11772-441: Was forced to divest all TV stations. To facilitate the adoption of digital television, the FCC issued a second digital TV (DTV) channel to each holder of an analog TV station license. All stations were required to buy and install all new equipment ( transmitters , TV antennas, and even entirely new broadcast towers ), and operate for years on both channels. Each licensee was required to return one of their two channels following

11881-463: Was the first major legislative reform since the 1934 act and took several steps to de-regulate the telephone market and promote competition in both the local and long-distance marketplace. The important relationship of the FCC and the American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) Company evolved over the decades. For many years, the FCC and state officials agreed to regulate the telephone system as

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