After an era of regulation of monopolies and quasi monopolies, the FCC changed gears during the Reagan administration to become a conduit for deregulation of both common carriers and the broadcast media.
During the early years of the FCC, it largely limited its regulation of telephone services to profits. In time, however, the agency began to promote competition. The courts ruled that there was no compelling public interest in a long-distance monopoly. Recent regulatory issues have centered on the entry of telephone companies into other communications services.
In the FCC removed restrictions on their foray into computer communications, and the Telecommunications Act of allowed telephone companies to enter the cable communications market by relaxing cross-ownership limits. Because communications frequencies are scarce and the airways are public by nature, the FCC has been given and has taken some broad powers in regulating the broadcast media.
In its early years, the FCC enforced limits on ownership, chain broadcasting, and content regulation. Among other things, it ordered the breakup of the NBC Blue radio network because of excessive monopoly control.
In National Broadcasting Co. The regulation of ownership has, however, loosened in recent years, because the FCC, in a deregulatory mood, has allowed concentration of station ownership. The Telecommunications Act of raised the limits on station ownership and in several amendments since increased the limits and loosened the rules on media cross-ownership. However, these developments have not been without controversy.
Consumer and other interest groups have protested that the increasing corporate concentration of power violates the public interest and excludes minorities from ownership. Some critics contend that the FCC has fallen short on content regulation.
Driven by commercial interests, it often has failed adequately to insist on the presentation of diverse viewpoints. By contrast, free-market champions often argue that FCC regulation stifles diversity by restricting competition. The fairness doctrine was challenged in in Red Lion Broadcasting Co. Federal Communications Commission , but it was upheld on the grounds of frequency scarcity.
However, in , during the deregulatory era, the FCC held that scarcity was no longer a consideration, and it formally abolished the doctrine in Indecent or obscene speech has been an important regulatory content issue. The freedom of expression promised in the First Amendment has been limited by the proliferation of television and radio outlets accessible by young children.
During the s and s, fraught with cultural change, obscene speech became an issue on radio and television, culminating in the decision in Federal Communications Commission v. Indeed, although the FCC has always played a role in the cultural conflicts of its time, it has been an important player in the so-called culture wars since the s. As Congress considered legislation in allowing telephone companies to offer cable broadband services and to limit or eliminate local franchising, the FCC remained in the middle of controversies on Internet neutrality and the nature of public-interest obligations in a deregulated environment.
The President designates one commissioner to serve as chairman. As the chief executive officer of the Commission, the chairman delegates management and administrative responsibility to the Managing Director. Certain other functions are delegated to staff units and bureaus and to committees of commissioners. The commissioners hold regular open and closed agenda meetings and special meetings. They also may act between meetings by "circulation," a procedure by which a document is submitted to each commissioner individually for consideration and official action.
The commission is organized into bureaus and offices , based on function see also Organizational Charts of the FCC. Bureau and office staff members regularly share expertise to cooperatively fulfill responsibilities such as:. Most FCC rules are adopted by a process known as "notice and comment" rulemaking.
Under that process, the FCC gives the public notice that it is considering adopting or modifying rules on a particular subject and seeks the public's comment. The Commission considers the comments received in developing final rules. In Congress passed the Federal Advisory Committee Act to ensure that advice by advisory committees is objective and accessible to the public.
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