Telecommunications Act

On February 1, 1996, Congress passed, and on February 8, 1996, President Clinton signed, omnibus legislation affecting the entire landscape of American Communications Law, including telecommunications, equipment manufacturing, cable, broadcasting, and the Internet. In the first major policy rewrite since the Communications Act of 1934, the new Act promotes “competitive forces” over government control, addresses new technologies, and tries to eliminate the last vestiges of monopoly in the telecommunications industry. With competition as its primary goal, the Act removes barriers to market entry, relaxes ownership concentration rules, and sets new tasks for Federal and State regulators. It also contains some content-regulations concerning television violence and indecent material on the Internet. Portions of the Act have been challenged. On June 26, 1997, the Supreme Court struck down the Internet “indecency” restrictions as being violate of the First Amendment; and although being appealed to the Supreme Court, the 8th Circuit stuck down on July 21, 1997, portions of the Act which may have created an improper FCC jurisdiction over State regulators. Other major portions of the Act are still effective. Some aspects deal with universal service, access charges, v-chips, high definition and digital television, and cable rate regulation. The Legal Information Institute provides Title 47 of the US Code, which encompasses the Telecommunications Act. Click on the download link for more information.