FCC Regulations
| Author | Jeffrey Wilson |
| Pages | 1333-1339 |
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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is a large, independent United States government agency. On June 19, 1934, Congress enacted legislation establishing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This important legislation made the administrative duties of regulating broadcasting and wired communications into a single agency. The FCC had three divisions: broadcast, telegraph, and telephone. Its prime directive was to create "a rapid, efficient, nationwide, and worldwide wire and radio communication service." The FCC's first seven commissioners and 233 employees soon began to consolidate the rules and procedures from three other agencies:
Federal Radio Commission
Interstate Commerce Commission
Postmaster General into one agency
FCC has jurisdiction in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. possessions such as Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the American Virgin Islands.
The FCC has grown a great deal over the years. With more than nearly 2,000 employees, it had added to its original mandate, with oversight responsibilities in new communications technologies such as satellite, microwave, and private radio communications. There are six major sections of the 1934 Act, called "titles." They are:
Title I: This section describes the administration, formation, and powers of the FCC.
Title II: This section is about common carrier regulation.
Title III: This section concerns broadcast station requirements.
Titles IV and V: These two sections deal with judicial review and enforcement of the Act.
Title VI: This section describes various provisions of the Act including amendments to the Act and the emergency war powers of the president. It also extends FCC power to regulate cable television.
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The 1934 Act restricts FCC regulatory authority to interstate and international common carriers. For purposes of the Act, telephone and microwave communications are deemed common carriers.
Many of the prototypes for broadcasting regulations were created before the 1934 Act by the Federal Radio Commission. Sections 303-307 defines many of the FCC's powers related to broadcasting. Other sections either put limits on FCC's authority or some of the activities of broadcasters:
The FCC may not censor broadcast stations.
Individuals may not uttering obscene or indecent language over a broadcast station.
The "Equal Time Rule" requires broadcasters to provide an equal opportunity to candidates seeking political office.
Under the "Fairness Doctrine," broadcasters must allow for rebuttal of controversial viewpoints.
The 1934 Act has been amended many times. Communication technology has changed dramatically during the FCC's history. These changes include the introduction of the following:
television
satellite and microwave communications
cable television
cellular telephone
PCS (personal communications) services
FCC responsibilities have increased to accommodate the regulatory issues presented by these new technologies. Consequently, it now shares regulatory power with other federal, executive, and judicial agencies.
The FCC oversees all broadcasting regulation. The FCC can license operators of telecommunication services and has recently used auctions as a means of determining who would be awarded licenses for personal communications services. The FCC enforces the requirements for wire and wireless communications through its rules and regulations. The FCC handles major issues at its monthly meetings; it deals with less important issues by circulating them among the commissioners for action. The language of the Act is flexible, sufficient to work as a framework for the FCC to promulgate new rules and regulations related to a huge variety of technologies and services.
The president appoints and the Senate confirms the FCC's five commissioners. They serve 5-year terms, unless appointed to fill an unexpired term. One of the five commissioners is designated by the president to serve as chairperson. The chairperson delegates management and administrative responsibility to the managing director of the FCC. To preserve a certain degree of political equilibrium, one political party may only have three commissioners at any one time. No commissioner may have a financial interest in any business related to the work of the commission. The five FCC commissioners supervise all of their organization's official activities and delegate agency responsibilities to staff units and bureaus.
The FCC contains four key branches and divisions:
Mass Media Bureau, which oversees licensing and regulation of broadcasting services
Common Carrier Bureau, which handles interstate communications service providers
Cable Bureau, which oversees rates and competition provisions of the cable act of 1992
Private Radio Bureau, which regulates microwave and land mobile services
And there are special offices within the FCC that help support the four bureaus:
The Field Operations Bureau, which provides enforcement, engineering and public outreach programs.
The Office of Engineering and Technology, which provides engineering expertise and knowledge to the FCC and tests equipment for compliance with FCC standards.
The Office of Plans and Policy, which functions as a sort of think tank for the FCC.
The FCC contains six Bureaus and ten Staff Offices, arranged by function. The sixteen bureaus and offices are:
Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau
Enforcement Bureau
International Bureau
Media Bureau
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Office of Administrative Law Judges
Office of Communications...
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