Competing visions of the NIIand the 1996 Act

Visions for a National Information Infrastructure

–Who will build it?

–Who will pay for it?

–What role for government?

–What will fill the pipe?

« … life in cyberspace seems to be shaping up exactly like Thomas Jefferson would have wanted: founded on the primacy of individual liberty and a commitment to pluralism, diversity, and community. »

(Kapor, 1993)

Consensus

• Private, not public

• Hybrid network

• Video driven

(Jeffersonian) Policy Principles

• Encourage competition• Where necessary, minimal government

intervention• Universal access• Content: user control• Uses: people can choose the role they

play• Architecture: interoperable• Protect free speech and privacy

The Telecommunications Act of ‘96• Initial ambition: Provide a coherent

framework for communication policy in the age of convergence.

Scope of the act

• Telephone services (local, long-distance, wireless)

• Broadcast television

• Cable television

• Content and programming on TV and Internet.

Main themes of the Act

• Competition / Entry

• Ownership and rates

• Content

Competition / Entry:

• Local network open to competition

• BOCs Obligations:

– Interconnection

– Unbundling

– Resale

– Collocation

• Long-Distance open to BOCs …once there is substantial local competition

• Phone companies can offer video

Ownership, licensing and rates

• TV-station ownership cap raised to 35% of population

– Allowed the FCC to double the spectrum available to Broadcast TV for DTV

– Broadcasters get more flexibility as to services they may offer (e.g. PPV, wireless phone, paging, data, etc..) but would have to pay fees based on the value of that spectrum if it were auctioned

• Cross-ownership phone-CATV OK

• Lifts rate regulation on CATV

Content

• “Communication Decency Act” (struck down 1997)

– Struck down by Supreme Court in 1997 (Reno v. ACLU): (CDA) is an unconstitutional restriction on free speech, affirming a lower court decision

• “V-chip” requirement

Universal Service, Interconnection• Universal Service Fund - 96 act is

first to codify Universal Service.From implicit to explicit subsidy

• Interconnection / unbundling: who defines the details?

Four Issues about new telecoms• 1. Local vs Long Distance: What's

competitive?

• 2. What kind of competition? Facility or service

• 3. Three layers, with different economics

• 4. The New media landscape