Telecommunications Act of 1996


The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is an amendment to the Communications act of 1934. The purpose of this law is to level the playing field for the rush in new telecommunications companies. The act allows for any telecommunications business to enter the market and compete fairly with any company.

It will affect telephone service -- local and long distance, cable programming and other video services, broadcast services, and services provided to schools.

The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has been instructed by the Congress of the United States to regulate and see to the implementation of the Act.


What It Does

The Act ensures that schools, libraries, hospitals, and clinics have access to advanced telecommunications services, and calls for them to be connected to the Internet by the year 2000. It will help connect every school child in every classroom in America to the information superhighway, helping even those in rural and low-income areas.

The FCC has ruled that schools will receive anywhere from 20% to 90% in discounts on Internet and communication services. The total cost for this Universal service is $2.25 billion allocated each year.

The Act also provides an easier way for parents to regulate and monitor how outside influences such as the media influence their children. As a result, the Communications Act implements the V-Chip, a computer chip, required to be installed in every new television set.

This chip gives parents control of what their children watch on television. It has the potential to block out stations and screen out potentially violent or objectionable material. An additional provision the Telecommunications Act, the CDA (Communications Decency Act), was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. The provision would have monitored the issue of "obscenity".

Aside from this personal use, institutions are also effected by the Act. The Act relaxes many old limits. It increases how much air space one institution can own when occupying more than 35 percent of national airways (the previous was 25%). In addition, the Act upholds existing laws. It forbids one company from owning two TV stations in a local market, or a newspaper and TV station in the same market, or a newspaper and cable in the same market.

The Act also maintains the ownership ban of a cable company and a broadcast company by an institution or individual in the same market. Cable companies are still required to scramble all sexual explicit channels.

In addition, small telephone companies also know as baby bells, will be allowed to provide long distance coverage outside of their regional area. In 1984 "Ma Bell" was broken up into several different companies, and in the past have not been able to service other areas.

The Telecommunications act of 1996 repeals many of these stringent laws, it does however maintain equal access to the market.


Those Who Support it, and Those Who Don’t

President Clinton considers the Act a victory in the fight to bring better telecommunications to schools, people, and communities across the United States. Many people, including the Vice President Al Gore have worked tirelessly to ensure high values be set for 21st century telecommunications.

Most people feel that this is the biggest beneficial reform on telecommunications that in the end will help every person in the country have access to information should they choose to.

When speaking in the Library of Congress. President Clinton refers to Thomas Jefferson, who deeded his books to the Library after the British burned their existing collection in the War of 1812. Clinton remarked "The volumes that line these walls grew out of Jefferson's legacy. He understood that democracy depends upon the free flow of information." Many question these remarks. Does the Telecommunications act do this? Many say no.

Critics of the Telecommunications Act state that this piece of legislation hinders the free flow of information. Most critic feel that the V-chip, a form of rating system, will fail in its effectiveness to monitor children as it has a proven history of failure in the past. Ratings such as "NC-17" had to be changed from "XXX", simply because it was becoming a symbol in modern culture, and became more of a right of passage for youth, rather than a deterrent.

In fact, the more strongly rated a movie, the more young people seem to want to watch it. An "R" rating will attract 54% more children than a "G" rating will. Critics say the V-Chip is the same concept, and it will ultimately end up as another example of the past. Unless you regulate everything, there will always be crime, violence, and illicit material on the television, Internet, and even the radio.

Critics also say that the Act limits the people’s choice because so many companies are merging as a result of the Act. This in a sense drives out competition, as the big telecommunications giants join ranks to weed out the smaller companies. This eliminates the whole idea of allowing any telecommunications business to enter the market—as stated by the Act of 1996.