This chapter for a book on the future of digital television examines how spectrum policy priorities came to shape today's television broadcast system and the issues that will influence the future of wireless video. As video services come to migrate freely between wired and wireless platforms, and as broadcast television merges with other forms of wireless video, spectrum policy and the public interest values that it reflects will shape the video value chain. These values are often crosscutting and require tradeoffs among such interests as maintaining existing communications services, technical innovation, spectrum efficiency, universal service, media diversity, and competition. What tradeoffs are made, and what they cost, is too frequently hidden from public view.

The passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 inaugurated a new and highly volatile era in telecommunications. The first major overhaul of U.S. communications law since 1934--when no one had a television set, a cordless phone, or a computer--the Act was spurred into being by broad shifts in technology use. Equally important, this book shows, the new law reflects important changes in our notions of the purpose of communications regulation and how it should be deployed. Focusing on the evolution of the concept of the public interest, Aufderheide examines how and why the legislation was developed, provides a thematic analysis of the Act itself, and charts its intended and unintended effects in business and policy. An abridged version of the Act is included, as are the Supreme Court decision that struck down one of its clauses, the Communications Decency Act, and a variety of pertinent speeches and policy arguments. Readers are also guided to a range of organizations and websites that offer legal updates and policy information. Finalist, McGannon Center Award for Social and Ethical Relevance in Communication Policy Research

Our digital world is increasingly mobile. All mobile communication rests upon access to one invisible, essential element: the radio spectrum. In Frequencies Gregory Taylor and Catherine Middleton bring together diverse national perspectives to explore the current and future state of spectrum governance worldwide. Spectrum is a foundational component of our contemporary communication infrastructure. The stakes are massive: mobile network operators have invested billions of dollars via national spectrum auctions to claim exclusive use of prime spectrum bands. Despite this windfall for national governments, many people around the globe remain disconnected from mobile service, yet international policy comparisons that can help us understand these disparities and differences are rare. Frequencies offers illuminating case studies from around the world, including Finland, Mexico, New Zealand, India, and Canada, as well as forward-thinking approaches to our use of radio frequencies that encourage greater public benefit and technological advancement. The contributors to Frequencies represent a wide array of disciplinary backgrounds, united by the common goal of maximizing the value and access to the public good that is the radio spectrum. Spectrum policy affects everyone, whether while listening to the radio, making an emergency phone call, or scrolling through social media updates. Frequencies seeks to broaden the discussion about our management of this primary resource necessary for how the world shares information.

In this book the author asks how new technologies can be organized to operate in the public's interest, and addresses the problem this question poses when applied to cable technology. Contents: List of Tables and Figures; Acknowledgements; Problems in Cable Communication Policy; Public Interests and Cable Communications; Explanations for Cable Community Interest Policies: Three Pure Types; An Empirical Examination of Explanations for Cable Community Interest Policies; An Organizational Explanation; Examining the Organizational Model; Regulating Cable Communications; Conclusions and Recommendations; Appendix: Variable Names, Definitions, and Sources; Bibliography; Index.