Federal Communications Commission
From dKosopedia
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent United States government agency, created, directed, and empowered by Congressional statute.
The FCC was established by the Communications Act of 1934 as the successor to the Federal Radio Commission and is charged with regulating all non-Federal Government use of the radio spectrum (including radio and television broadcasting), and all interstate telecommunications (wire, satellite and cable) as well as all international communications that originate or terminate in the United States. The FCC took over wire communication regulation from the Interstate Commerce Commission. The FCC's jurisdiction covers the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. possessions.
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Organization
The FCC is directed by five Commissioners appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate for 5-year terms, except when filling an unexpired term. The President designates one of the Commissioners to serve as Chairperson. Only three Commissioners may be members of the same political party. None of them can have a financial interest in any Commission-related business.
As the chief executive officer of the Commission, the Chairman delegates management and administrative responsibility to the Managing Director. The Commissioners supervise all FCC activities, delegating responsibilities to staff units and Bureaus. The current FCC Chairman is Michael Powell, son of Secretary of State Colin Powell. The other four current Commissioners are Kathleen Abernathy, Michael Copps, Kevin Martin, and Jonathon Adelstein.
Regulatory powers
The Federal Communications Commission has one major regulatory weapon, revoking licenses, but short of that has little leverage over broadcast stations. It is reluctant to do this since it operates in a near vacuum of information on most of the tens of thousands of stations whose licences are renewed every three years. Broadcast licenses are supposed to be renewed if the station meets the "public interest, convenience, or necessity." The Federal Communications Commission rarely checks except for some outstanding reason; burden of proof would be on the complainant. Fewer than 1% of station renewals are not immediately granted, and only a small fraction of those are actually denied.
Note: Similar authority for regulation of Federal Government telecommunications is vested in the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
Contact information
Electronically
- Chairman Michael K. Powell: Michael.Powell@fcc.gov
- Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy: Kathleen.Abernathy@fcc.gov
- Commissioner Michael J. Copps: Michael.Copps@fcc.gov
- Commissioner Kevin J. Martin: KJMWEB@fcc.gov
- Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein: Jonathan.Adelstein@fcc.gov
- General information, inquiries & complaints: fccinfo@fcc.gov
- Freedom of Information Act requests: FOIA@fcc.gov
- Elections & political candidate matters: campaignlaw@fcc.gov
Phone or Fax
Voice: 1-888-225-5322 (1-888-CALL FCC)
Fax: (202) 418-0710
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20554
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