Should the FCC be abolished?

[TheresNoMoney]

It should either be eliminated or greatly weakened/downsized.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Is a frequency really a "measure?"

How much of the spectrum a particular channel uses is certainly a measure. For example while in the Americas a medium wave AM station uses 10kHz, the rest of the world uses 9kHz wide channels.

So in that respect it's no diifferent that regulating the dimensions of a standard sized apple barrel.

[Emsworth]

How much of the spectrum a particular channel uses is certainly a measure. For example while in the Americas a medium wave AM station uses 10kHz, the rest of the world uses 9kHz wide channels.

So in that respect it's no diifferent that regulating the dimensions of a standard sized apple barrel.

I don't think that Congress would have the power to regulate the dimensions of barrels. They can merely determine what units may be used in making the measurement, but little more than that.

Similarly, Congress might be able to decide how the spectrum can be measured. It cannot decide, however, who gets to use which part of the spectrum (at least under the weights and measures clause).

[Nation]

It needs to be greatly weakened.

I don't want to see the FCC abolished, but I'm sick of seeing it deal with subjective issues, i.e morals and censorship in the media.

[Erc]

No--we need it for frequency-assigning purposes, of course--but that's all it should do.

And that's perfectly permissible under a pretty strict definition of the interstate commerce clause.

[Gabu]

Yes, of course.  This anarchism of the radio Boss Tweed mentions is really a non-issue provided that we have so many different ranges, frequencies, AM, FM, or XM,... so it would turn into a nice market situation upon where everyone would compete for radio time.

If two people start broadcasting on the same frequency, you're going to run into major problems.  I really don't see what the problem is with having an organization that assures that no two broadcasters are using the same frequency.

Honestly, sometimes it seems like people want a free market just for the sake of having a free market, as if it were an meaningful end unto itself rather than just a means to an end (the efficient regulation and distribution of goods and services).  A free market is only desirable in a situation if it works better than anything else.

[Cubby]

My first reaction is that it should be abolished, it is probably my least favorite government agency and its creation was a rare bad move by FDR.

But I think in actuality it should be greatly weakened and like Nation said it shouldn't deal with any moral issues and most important.....NO CENSORSHIP!!!!

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Yes, of course.  This anarchism of the radio Boss Tweed mentions is really a non-issue provided that we have so many different ranges, frequencies, AM, FM, or XM,... so it would turn into a nice market situation upon where everyone would compete for radio time.

There are already in most populated places in the US no empty spots on the AM or FM dials. You might think that there are 101 FM radio frequencies, but there aren't, it's more like 20 with 5 different subsets used to keep stations from interfering with one another.  One nice thing about the switch to gital TV is that it should free up TC channels 5 and 6 to become another 59 1/2 frequencies.  (87.9 MHz is technically in the tail end of the spectrum used by TV Channel 6,  and it's only assigned where there is no risk of interferring with Channel 6 or for low power ops, so I'm counting it as a 1/2 channel since it would become much more available once TV channel 6 shuts down.

[AkSaber]

Yes, but the BATF is far worse.

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[opebo]

No, but it should not censor any speech, including pornography.  It should, however require equal time for political speech, to ensure that persons without money get to speak in response to those who can purchase air time.

Without this sort of regulation, the poor have no access to speech, and the rich control politics.

Two questions.

1. When you say that it should not censor pornography, does that include all types of pornography, or just pornography depicting consenting adults of legal age?

I would like the State to stop interefering in 'age of consent' issues.

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Actually the intolerant prudes are all over the airwaves already, Ebowed.  They're very well funded.

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That doesn't matter, Ebowed, since the owning class have their privilege - their money - due to the State imposed class-heirarchy, it is only an amelioration of a previous use of force to 'force' them to return some money to ensure that the working-class may also speak. 

[Bono]

Yes, of course.  This anarchism of the radio Boss Tweed mentions is really a non-issue provided that we have so many different ranges, frequencies, AM, FM, or XM,... so it would turn into a nice market situation upon where everyone would compete for radio time.

If two people start broadcasting on the same frequency, you're going to run into major problems.  I really don't see what the problem is with having an organization that assures that no two broadcasters are using the same frequency.

Honestly, sometimes it seems like people want a free market just for the sake of having a free market, as if it were an meaningful end unto itself rather than just a means to an end (the efficient regulation and distribution of goods and services).  A free market is only desirable in a situation if it works better than anything else.

If a new station started jamming an established station, that would generate a unholy mess of PR problems.

[12th Doctor]

I agree with the FCC handling things like communication frequencies, but otherwise it has too much power, such as pushing for the broadcast flag in television broadcasts. There are somethings that the FCC should let people handle themselves such as changing the channel rather then fining people. If you turn on Howard Stern, you should know what you are getting. On the other hand, people who were watching the Superbowl were not watching for Janet Jackson's nipple. I don't like how they make the fine for each affiliate.

So keep it, but give it a major overhaul.

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