Special Report: The Telecommunications Act of 1996

by Peter Huber, Michael Kellogg, and John Thorne


Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1 Telephony

     1.1  The End of the Protected Franchise
          1.1.1     Entry Barriers Preempted
          1.1.2     The Obligations of Carriers
                    1.1.1a    All Telecommunications Carriers
                    1.1.1b    Local Exchange Carriers
                    1.1.1c    Incumbent LECs
                    1.1.1d    Rural Telephone Companies
          1.1.3     Determining the Scope of the New Obligations
          1.1.4     Number Portability
          1.1.5     Dialing Parity
          1.1.6     Physical Collocation
          1.1.7     Resale
          1.1.8     Reciprocal Compensation
          1.1.9     Local Interconnection and Unbundling
          1.1.10    Interconnection/Unbundling Agreements
          1.1.11    Life after Unbundling
     1.2  The End of the Quarantine
          1.2.1     In-Region Interexchange Relief for Bell
                    Companies
          1.2.2     Payphones
          1.2.3     Out-of-Region Interexchange Relief for Bell
                    Companies
          1.2.4     Incidental Interexchange Relief
          1.2.5     Manufacturing
          1.2.6     Separate Subsidiary Requirements for Bell
                    Companies
          1.2.7     Termination of the Bell Divestiture Decree
          1.2.8     Termination of the GTE Decree
          1.2.9     Termination of the AT&T/McCaw Decree
          1.2.10    Separation of Powers
          1.2.11    Effect on Antitrust Laws
          1.2.12    Federal-State Relations
     1.3  The End of Cradle-to-Grave Regulation?
          1.3.1     A Crushing Mandate
          1.3.2     Pole Attachments
          1.3.3     Unfair Billing Practices
          1.3.4     Customer Privacy
          1.3.5     Universal Service
          1.3.6     Miscellaneous
          1.3.7     Planting the Seeds of Deregulation


Chapter 2 Broadcast

     2.1  Advanced Television Services
     2.2  Structural Limits
          2.2.1     Radio Ownership
          2.2.2     TV Ownership
          2.2.3     Cross-Ownership
     2.3  Broadcast Licensing Reform
     2.4  Preemption of State Regulation of Satellite Services
     2.5  Restrictions on Reception of Video Programming
          Services
     2.6  DBS Piracy
     2.7  Ship-to-Shore Radio



Chapter 3 Cable and Video Services

     3.1  Cable Rate Deregulation
          3.1.1     Service to Multiple Dwelling Units  
          3.1.2     Service to Small Communities 
          3.1.3     Upper Tier Channels  
          3.1.4     Interactive and Telecom Services  
          3.1.5     Rate Complaints  
     3.2  Making Connections
          3.2.1     Customer-Premises Equipment and Navigation
                    Devices  
          3.2.2     Preemption of Local Standards for Cable
                    Networks and Customer Equipment  
     3.3  Video from the Phone Company
          3.3.1     Common Carriage  
          3.3.2     Cable Service  
          3.3.3     "Wireless Cable" Service  
          3.3.4     "Open" Video Systems 
     3.4  Cable Operator Provision of Telecom Services
     3.5  Cable-Telco Mergers


Chapter 4 Obscenity and Violence

     4.1  Cybersleaze
          4.1.1     Bad Actors 
          4.1.2     Good Samaritans 
     4.2  Television Sleaze and The "V Chip"
          4.2.1     Ratings 
          4.2.2     "V Chips" in TV sets
     4.3  Sleaze on Cable
     4.4  The First Amendment
          4.4.1     Cybersleaze  
          4.4.2     The V Chip  
          4.4.3     Cable Indecency  
          4.4.4     Summary  


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© 1999 Peter W. Huber