The
Communications Act of 1934 was a United States federal law enacted as Public Law Number 416, Act of June 19, 1934, ch. 652, 48 Stat. 1064, by the 73rd Congress, codified as Chapter 5 of
Title 47 of the United States CodeTitle 47 of the United States Code defines the role and structure of the Federal Communications Commission, an independent agency of the United States government, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, part of the United States Department of Commerce...
, et seq. The Act replaced the
Federal Radio CommissionThe Federal Radio Commission was a government body that regulated radio use in the United States from its creation in 1926 until its replacement by the Federal Communications Commission in 1934...
with the
Federal Communications CommissionThe Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, directed, and empowered by Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President...
(FCC). It also transferred regulation of interstate
telephoneThe telephone is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sound, most commonly the human voice. It is one of the most common household appliances in the developed world, and has long been considered indispensable to business, industry and government...
services from the
Interstate Commerce CommissionThe Interstate Commerce Commission was a regulatory body in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, which was signed into law by President Grover Cleveland...
to the FCC.
On January 3, 1996, the 104th Congress of the United States amended or repealed sections of the Communications Act of 1934 with the new
Telecommunications Act of 1996The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was the first major overhaul of United States telecommunications law in nearly 62 years, amending the Communications Act of 1934.-Prior regime:...
.
The
Communications Act of 1934 was a United States federal law enacted as Public Law Number 416, Act of June 19, 1934, ch. 652, 48 Stat. 1064, by the 73rd Congress, codified as Chapter 5 of
Title 47 of the United States CodeTitle 47 of the United States Code defines the role and structure of the Federal Communications Commission, an independent agency of the United States government, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, part of the United States Department of Commerce...
, et seq. The Act replaced the
Federal Radio CommissionThe Federal Radio Commission was a government body that regulated radio use in the United States from its creation in 1926 until its replacement by the Federal Communications Commission in 1934...
with the
Federal Communications CommissionThe Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, directed, and empowered by Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President...
(FCC). It also transferred regulation of interstate
telephoneThe telephone is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sound, most commonly the human voice. It is one of the most common household appliances in the developed world, and has long been considered indispensable to business, industry and government...
services from the
Interstate Commerce CommissionThe Interstate Commerce Commission was a regulatory body in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, which was signed into law by President Grover Cleveland...
to the FCC.
On January 3, 1996, the 104th Congress of the United States amended or repealed sections of the Communications Act of 1934 with the new
Telecommunications Act of 1996The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was the first major overhaul of United States telecommunications law in nearly 62 years, amending the Communications Act of 1934.-Prior regime:...
. It was the first major overhaul of American telecommunications policy in nearly 62 years.
Brief history of the Act
The Act largely combined and reorganized existing provisions of law, including provisions of the Federal Radio Act of 1927 relating to
radioRadio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
licensing, and of the Mann-Elkins Act of 1910 relating to telephone service.
Commercial radio debate
Before the
Communications Act of 1934 was enacted as law by the U.S. Congress, there was a debate over commercial versus non-commercial broadcasting: Senators
Robert WagnerRobert Ferdinand Wagner was an American politician. He was a Democratic U.S. Senator from New York from 1927 to 1949.-Origin and early life:...
of
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and Henry Hatfield of
West VirginiaWest Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, and Pennsylvania and Maryland to the northeast...
offered an amendment to the then proposed Communications Act. Educators wanted more of radio to be given to them; they had been termed a "special interest" by the Federal Radio Commission and their stations were forced to share frequencies. The
Wagner-Hatfield amendmentWagner-Hatfield amendment was a proposed amendment to the Communications Act of 1934 aimed at turning over twenty-five percent of all radio channels to non-profit radio broadcasters...
would have given 25% of all radio broadcasting facilities to non-profit institutions and organizations. It would also have allowed these educational stations to sell advertising in order to become self-sufficient. Senator C.C. Dill, a pro-industry spokesman opposed this amendment. It would have meant eliminating numerous commercial stations, but that is not what Dill publicly complained about. He expressed horror over the advertising. He said there was too much advertising already. Not all
educators supported the advertising clause, so a compromise was struck. The issue was to be given to the new Federal Communications Commission to study and to hold hearings on and to report back to Congress. Hatfield and Wagner stuck to their guns, however, and proposed their amendment anyway. The Hatfield-Wagner amendment died and the Communications Act was passed.
The Federal Communications Commission reported back, saying that commercial stations had ample time for educational and other public service programs. The Commission called for cooperation between commercial and educational interests and other non-profit groups. The educators lost, though commercial broadcasters were forced to air public affairs programs.
Chain (network) case
The United States Supreme Court held in
National Broadcasting Co. Inc. et al. v. United States et al.National Broadcasting Co. v. United States, 319 U.S. 190 , was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held on May 10, 1943 that the Federal Communications Commission had the power to issue regulations pertaining to associations between broadcasting networks and their affiliated...
, 319 U.S. 190 on May 10, 1943 that the FCC had the right to issue regulations pertaining to associations between broadcasting networks and their affiliated stations. The Opinion of the Supreme Court was not unanimous and it led to a conflict with an earlier decision in
Federal Communications Commission v. Sanders Brothers Radio Station, 309 U.S. 470, on March 25, 1940.
In that case the FCC interpreted Supreme Court decisions concerning broadcasting to mean that potential economic injury to an existing licensee was not grounds for refusing to license a competitor. (This FCC interpretation remained in place from 1940 to 1958.)
The Opinion of the Supreme Court was delivered by
Felix FrankfurterFelix Frankfurter was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.-Early life:Frankfurter was born on November 15, 1882 in Vienna, Austria, third of six children of Leopold and Emma Frankfurter. His forebears had been rabbis for generations...
with Justices
Hugo BlackHugo LaFayette Black was an American politician and jurist. A member of the Democratic Party, Black represented the state of Alabama in the United States Senate from 1927 to 1937, and served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1937 to 1971. Black was nominated to...
and
Wiley Blount RutledgeWiley Blount Rutledge, Jr. was a U.S. educator and jurist.-Early life:Rutledge was born in Cloverport, Kentucky to Wiley Blount Rutledge, Sr., a Southern Baptist minister, and Mary Lou Wigginton Rutledge . Another son died in infancy, and then his sister Margaret was born in 1897...
taking no part in the discussion or decision. Justice
Frank MurphyWilliam Francis Murphy was a politician and jurist from Michigan. He served as First Assistant U.S. District Attorney, Eastern Michigan District , Recorder's Court Judge, Detroit . Mayor of Detroit , the last Governor-General of the Philippines , U.S...
offered a dissenting Opinion by stating that the Court was effectively giving the FCC a power to regulate networks which had not been given to the FCC by Congress. Murphy stated that;
... we exceed our competence when we gratuitously bestow upon an agency power which the Congress has not granted. Since that is what the Court in substance does today, I dissent.
Because the majority of the Court did not agree with Murphy it effectively gave the FCC power to regulate the networks. As a result of this 1943 decision,
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
was forced to sell one of its two networks (its
Blue NetworkThe Blue Network was the on-air name of an American radio production and distribution service from 1942 to 1945, which traced its formal origins back to 1927...
) and it was this action which then led to the creation of the
American Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
Overhaul of FCC policy
The 1934 Communications Act remained in place but was amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
See also
- COPE Act of 2006
The Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006 was a bill in the US House of Representatives. It was part of a major overhaul of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 being considered by the US Congress. The Act was sponsored by Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton , Rep....
(Communications Act of 2006)
- Telecommunications Act of 2005
The Telecommunications Act of 2005 is a proposed United States telecommunications law thatmakes regulatory changes to broadband Internet providers,Voice over IP providers, andBroadband Video services. Some of...
(Communications Act of 2006)
- Telecommunications Act of 1996
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was the first major overhaul of United States telecommunications law in nearly 62 years, amending the Communications Act of 1934.-Prior regime:...
External links