By first describing the historical stance of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) toward ownership of broadcast facilities and then describing the FCC's most recent policy statements, this report compares the differing viewpoints and recognizes that the new value or goal that seems to have been established conflicts with the past emphasis…

This monograph traces the themes in various court decisions that reflect a growing respect for the broadcast industry as a mature communication medium which, despite federal regulation, deserves a fuller measure of the First Amendment protection enjoyed by other media. The review begins with the first government involvement in broadcast content in…

Competition between cable television systems (CATV) and regular broadcast stations concerns pay-TV and distant signal importation. The pay-TV that CATV provides competes with the networks by "siphoning" away sports and feature films, while the distant signals that CATV imports to a local market "fragment" the local audience and…

Industry structure studies prior to 1968 are briefly reviewed, and an overview of industrial and technological developments up to the present is provided through synopses of more recent studies. Areas covered include overseas telephone and record carriers; the creation of the Communications Satellite Corporation; the current regulatory and…

A compelling argument can be made for the "public forum doctrine," which states that public broadcasting stations licensed to government bodies have a greater obligation than commercial stations under the First Amendment to transcend political and personal biases in making programing decisions. It is also equally important that…