Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent United States government agency, created, directed, and empowered by Congressional statute.

Criticisms

The FCC has been criticized on many fronts, both for being too restrictive and too permissive in its regulation.

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On the issue of broadcast indecency, it has taken heat from ultra-religious right-wing groups for not cracking down hard enough on what they believe others should not see or hear. In the actions it has taken against broadcasters, it has also been criticized for violating the First Amendment guarantee of Freedom of Speech, both directly by its censorship and enforcement action and indirectly by the general intimidation it creates, particularly with the U.S. Congress considering multiplying fines exponentially. The FCC is also considering forcing all broadcasters to retain everything they broadcast for two or three months (FCC MB Docket 04-232) which would wipe out smaller broadcasters because of the enormous expenses associated with such a move in terms of having to purchase new equipment that has the necessary features for content storage and the need for facilities to store content.

Related Topics:
Indecency - Religious - Right-wing - First Amendment - Freedom of Speech - Intimidation - U.S. Congress - Fine - Exponent - FCC MB Docket 04-232

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Unlicensed broadcasting has also been a source of contention, as the FCC has set the power limits on it extremely low, while making it nearly impossible for anyone except a large corporation or large nonprofit to obtain a license. Stephen Dunnifer did win a case versus the FCC, but otherwise few have successfully argued against the commission.

Related Topics:
Unlicensed broadcasting - Power - Corporation - Nonprofit - License - Stephen Dunnifer

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In digital television, the controversial broadcast flag has angered many and was struck down in federal court. Congress has since been lobbied and pressured by the content provider industry, the recording industry in particular, and therefore there is still a looming danger of Congress authorizing the controversial copy prevention scheme. Congress has even criticized the commission for not pushing it or even forcing DTV by cutting off all existing analog TV stations, though the public has shown very little interest in DTV, and conversion set-top boxes are still hundreds of dollars each.

Related Topics:
Digital television - Broadcast flag - Copy prevention - TV station - Set-top box

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In digital radio, the FCC chose a proprietary system, so that every broadcaster will have to pay iBiquity royalties every year, in addition to payments from manufacturers of transmitters and even consumer receivers. Even the IBOC design of the system is not being used by any other country, so it is completely incompatible even with Canada.

Related Topics:
Digital radio - Proprietary - IBiquity - Royalties - Transmitter - Consumer - Receiver - IBOC - Incompatible - Canada

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In telephony, the FCC prohibited NANP area codes from being assigned only to cellphones, despite the fact that they were the primary cause of the need for new telephone numbers. This is also the opposite of what nearly every other country does, and prevents tariffs for calls to mobile phones (which charge per minute) from being different than landlines (which do not).

Related Topics:
Telephony - NANP - Area code - Cellphone - Telephone numbers - Tariff - Landline

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The exception was area code 917, which is for moblie phones issued in the city of New York, and was grandfathered-in.

Related Topics:
Area code 917 - City of New York - Grandfathered

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The character "Broadband" (FCC Kids Zone) looks like Doraemon, a popular Manga character in Japan. Doraemon was created for print in magazines in 1969, which makes Doraemon predate the FCC's character. According to Japanese news media, both Shogakukan (copyright manager) and Fujiko-production (owner of the copyright) have warned the FCC over the alleged copyright infringement, but so far there has been no answer.

Related Topics:
Doraemon - Manga - Shogakukan - Copyright infringement

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