DTV Transition & Media Reform

The Communications Act of 1934 and its predecessor, the Radio Act of 1927, mandates that the Federal Communications Commission regulate broadcasting in the “public interest, convenience, or necessity.” This continues to be the mandate of the FCC, and the “public interest” part of the phrase appears 40 times in the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

The “public interest” mandate is notoriously vague. Contentious debate over its meaning has been almost continuous since passage of the Communications Act 70 years ago. For… more

The FCC will decide soon whether to grant broadcasters "must-carry" rights on cable systems for the five or more channels of digital programming they will soon be able to transmit over the air. Rights to such cable carriage are worth tens of billions of dollars. Why should the broadcasting industry get something for free that every other cable/satellite channel must pay for? Should the broadcasters give something in return? Will digital must-carry rights really speed… more

The Federal Communications Commission will soon decide whether to grant local TV broadcasters enhanced “must-carry” rights on cable TV systems. Specifically, broadcasters seek to expand their current one-program must-carry right to a multi-program must-carry right, which they call “multicast” must-carry.

The current debate has evolved out of the so-called digital TV (DTV) transition. Since the advent of TV, local stations have received an FCC license, at no cost, to broadcast a single program over a “channel” defined as 6 MHz… more

Spectrum Series Issue Brief #12 argues that the grossly underutilized spectrum allocated for television broadcasting should be opened for license-exempt sharing with broadband wireless devices. More than 80% of the 400 MHz allocated to television broadcasting is unassigned "white space," which could be efficiently shared by emerging smart technologies, for wireless broadband and other new services, without harmful interference to broadcasters. Wireless broadband entrepreneurs and community networks already are using unlicensed spectrum to… more

New America Foundation, et al. (NAF, et al.) argued in their Comment that new information technologies are making it economical to allocate large amounts of previously unused spectrum for unlicensed devices without creating harmful interference to incumbent license holders. Incumbent license holders in their comments, however, argue that this technological revolution has not taken place; therefore, the status quo must be preserved in order to prevent harmful interference.

In this Reply Comment, NAF, et al. focus on the Reply Comment… more

We are posting J.H. Snider and Benjamin I. Page's 1997 study on the media ownership debate because it has become relevant. At a hearing on media ownership on May 13, 2003, Senate Commerce Committee Chair John McCain waved the study at a media mogul on the panel and said: "Do you think this is an anomaly?" McCain's comment and the study to which it referred were subsequently featured on the front page of the business section in The Washington Post… more

On June 2 the FCC is expected to issue rules on media ownership with long-term and fundamental consequences for our culture, economy, and democracy. These rules cover the ownership of local radio and television broadcasters, national broadcast networks, and newspapers. The senators, FCC commissioners, and panelists discussed their various concerns about the media consolidation that would ensue following release of the FCC's expected rules.

The FCC’s recent Spectrum Policy Task Force Report endorses the allocation of more unlicensed spectrum. In this notice of inquiry, all four sitting FCC commissioners echo this endorsement. NAF et. al. wholeheartedly agree. Moreover, this new unlicensed spectrum is most needed in the lower frequencies, such as the broadcast band, with the most desirable propagation characteristics.

Fortunately, new spectrum technology, notably advanced digital receivers, is opening up vast swaths of capacity in the broadcast band. This new capacity… more

Senator John McCain will outline a new bill that would provide vouchers for political candidates to buy time on the nation's broadcast media, funded by a small fee on broadcasters who currently pay nothing to use the public airwaves. Broadcasters were given licenses -- at no cost -- to use spectrum now valued at $250 billion in return for in-kind "public interest obligations," such as educational and civic programming. However, the industry has increasingly shirked these obligations… more

In our democracy, speech is free but communication is expensive -- and never more so than during the campaign season. As the cost of political communication keeps rising, the competitive playing field of campaigns keeps tilting toward candidates who are wealthy or well-financed. The most effective way to make campaigns more competitive is to ensure that the less well-financed candidate at least has the seed resources to get a message out by creating a system of free air… more