Telecom Act of 1996

For the Full Text of the Act, Click Here.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was the first major change in our communications industry in 60 years. It was supposed to restructure and bring positive reform in the way that telecommunications was regulated in the United States, and incorporate all the new advances in communications technology. In other words the Telecommunications Act was supposed to bring the American government up to speed with the advances of the 21st century. Such a reform was obvious and necessary, and we the CCFB applaud the recognition by Congress of this fact. Unfortunately, the Congress took one very wrong turn in carrying out this reform. As Steve Mizrach proved in Mass Communication and Society, “whole portions of the Telecom Act had been written entirely by the telecom industry lobbyists.” What the United States Congress did in affect was give the telecom industry full rights to regulate it self and do what it wished. Numerous damaging actions occurred as result of this decision.

• Broadcasters were allowed to buy new spectrum allocations for digital television for next to nothing, as long as they agreed to start broadcasting in digital format by 2006. However, despite governmental efforts, the broadcasters were given this spectrum without any reciprocal requirements.

• Broadcasters refused to uphold, and were given clemency, on several obligations to the public good that were previously required of them. These included refusing to broadcast in a standard digital format (so that all televisions could have single signal converter), refusing to update the Fairness Doctrine for the Internet Era, and refusing to give free airtime for public political campaigns. The telecommunications lobby even refused to abide by the simply decent requirement of providing quality educational programming for children.

• By de-regulating telecommunications the 1996 Telecom Act triggered a wave of mergers and buy-outs, most prominent among them WorldCom-MCI and Time-Warner. This has resulted in media conglomerate monopolies, with not only full vertical but also horizontal integration. What were once fifty companies in the early 1980’s that dominated the broadcasting business are now ten, and the number is getting smaller and smaller and smaller.

• In an addendum to the 1997 Balanced Budget Act, the telecom industry was able to secure an exception to a rule in the 1996 Telecom Act that required for a certain portion of the broadcasting spectrum to be given to First Responders for use in emergency situations. This exception has resulted in a lack of said spectrum being provided to First Responders for “decades or multiple decades” in the words of FCC Chairman Michael Powell. This, by the way, caused the lack communication in the Hurricane Katrina relief and rescue efforts, and resulted in the needless death of hundreds if not thousands of individuals.