Federal Communications Commission - FCC

Type: Government Agency
On the web: http://www.fcc.gov

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. The Communications Act of 1934 established the FCC as an independent US government agency directly responsible to Congress. Its jurisdiction covers the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and US possessions. The President appoints and the Senate confirms the five commissioners who direct the FCC; only three of them can belong to the same political party. The President also designates one of the commissioners to serve as chairperson. There are seven operating bureaus and 10 staff offices within the FCC.

Officers:
Chairman: Julius Genachowski
Managing Director: Anthony Dale
CFO: Mark Stephens

An U.S. independent government regulatory agency responsible for overseeing all communications distributed either interstate or internationally. They act to maintain standards and consistency among the ever-growing types of media and methods of distribution, while protecting the interests of both consumers and businesses. The agency is accountable to congress.

Investopedia Says:
The FCC’s actions are watched closely by stock market followers because they affect companies along many different business lines. The FCC allocates cellular and wireless spectrum, regulates media company mergers and acquisitions, protects intellectual property rights and regulates standards of content and distribution for all media companies operating in the United States.

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Believing that the airways belong to the people and should not be monopolized by private interests, Congress created the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1934 as a successor to the original Federal Radio Commission. As an independent regulatory agency, the FCC regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States.

The FCC is directed by five commissioners appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Each commissioner serves a five-year term, and no more than three may be members of the same political party. The president designates one of the commissioners to serve as chairperson.

Because there are a limited number of radio frequencies, the FCC assigned radio stations their place on the dial and prohibited other stations from interfering with their signals. The FCC similarly protected the three major television networks. For years, the FCC ruled against proposals for “pay TV” that would add more channels through cable or satellite transmission, in part because of its commitment to the ideology of free television and also because the technology had not yet been perfected. In the 1970s the FCC relented and permitted greater cable access. In the 1980s Ronald Reagan's administration and Congress pressed for greater deregulation of communications, reducing many of the restrictions on radio and television station ownership and transmission.

For decades, the FCC had also enforced a Fairness Doctrine that required all candidates for political office to have equal time to respond to their challengers. With the proliferation of stations, the FCC suspended the equal-time provision, on the assumption that all candidates would have access to some form of media, depending upon their ability to pay for it.