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As of June 12, 2009, full power television stations transitioned from analog to digital-only broadcasting. According to the Federal Communications Commission, digital television (DTV) provides higher-quality video and audio, enabling a station to provide different types of programming over multiple channels and freeing broadcast spectrum, or space, for fire, rescue and police communications and more wireless communication providers. Low power television stations, which broadcast short distances, broadcast in analog. Eventually the federal government will require these stations to go digital. Many of these stations broadcast to rural, remote and mountain areas, where reception is difficult.
There is no federal law that creates a "do not fax" list to protect your fax from receiving unsolicited advertisements and other material. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has promulgated rules that state a company sending you a fax must have a prior bushiness relationship with you. They must also provide a way for you to respond that will take your number off of their specific list. This does not prevent another company from faxing you. Independent companies have stepped into the breach and have created nonofficial "do not fax" lists that they claim will reduce the number of commercial…
In 2005, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act was put into place to offer consumers and businesses protection against junk faxes. As part of the TCPA, the Federal Communications Commission requires all fax advertisers to have an opt-out notice on their faxes. If one of these advertisers gets an opt-out request, they must comply within 30 days. Not complying can result in a lawsuit by the consumer or business, which is punishable by a fine up to $2,500 per instance.
Receiving unwanted mail is annoying, but it's only a minor disruption. Receiving unwanted faxes, however, is more inconvenient. Unwanted faxes waste ink and paper and tie up your fax line, keeping you from receiving important communications. Although the U.S. Federal Communications Commission prohibits the sending of unsolicited faxes, you may legally receive faxes from established business partners or merchants.
Created in 1934 by the Communications Act, the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, is the government agency tasked with overseeing and regulating interstate and international communications transmitted through television, wire, satellite, radio and cable. The primary functions of the FCC include promulgating communication regulations, issuing broadcast licenses and investigating complaints. The FCC came as a response to the Radio Act of 1924, where Senator Clarence Dill stated, "The government does not own the frequencies, as we call them, or the use of the frequencies. It only possesses the right to regulate the apparatus."
Digital TV (DTV) stations are operated by local TV broadcasters. DTV channels are the free over-the-air channels picked up by viewers in a local coverage area. Launching your own DTV channel is no small undertaking. It's expensive, and the task requires the assistance of someone with broadcast engineering expertise. Equipping a low power TV station can cost anywhere from $100,000 to $150,000. Before you proceed with anything else, you need to line up financing for the venture. Since DTV channels are regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), to launch a DTV channel you must first apply for a permit…
A fax machine is an integral part of modern business. However, many businesses are the recipients of unwanted fax advertisements. More than just a annoyance, unwanted or junk faxes tie up phone lines, waste office supplies and are a general nuisance. The Federal Communications Commission, pursuant to The Telephone Consumer Protection Act, established rules giving fax owners recourse against companies that send unwanted faxes.
The FCC does not keep a public database of its extremely complex rules. That task is performed by the Government Printing Office for most agencies. These rules and regulations are compiled in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). After October 1 of each year, the GPO compiles all the changes to the rules and republishes the Code of Federal Regulations with the updates. This page links to the 2009 edition of the CFR.
Freedom of speech in America is a fundamental right, guaranteed by the Constitution. Freedom to interfere with another person's speech, however, is not a right. The United States Supreme Court has ruled on numerous occasions that unlicensed transmitters violate another person's speech by interfering with another transmitter. For this reason, the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, mandates that all but extremely low-powered FM transmitters be licensed, so that interference is not a problem. These mandates are laws, not recommendations. Any violator of the law will be punished, up to and including imprisonment.
Just as consumers may opt out of unwanted telephone solicitation, they may also opt out of unsolicited ads received via fax under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the Junk Fax Prevention Act.
In 2008, the Federal Communications Commission cleared vast amounts of airwave "white space" for use by public-safety professionals, such as police and fire departments. All analog cable television stations were forced to digitize their signal, creating a void that was soon entered by licensed and unlicensed wireless microphone users. Schools, churches, and performing artists, including Broadway theatre productions, took advantage of the vacated frequencies due to the high-quality of the signal in use of up to 100 meters. In order to protect the airwaves they had previously cleared, the FCC notified these users that frequencies between 698mhz and 806mhz would…
SMS text scams have been around almost as long as mobile phones, and some individuals are still coming up with new ways to con people out of their hard-earned cash. Some people fall for mobile phone SMS scams so easily because sometimes all it takes is a single reply to a text message or a response to a missed call to get hooked.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has in place rules and regulations that protect consumers and businesses from spam faxes. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) prohibits almost all unsolicited fax advertisements. Only those businesses with an established business relationship with the receiver may legally advertise by sending faxes. If you have not consented to receiving faxes from a business, or if you have no prior business relationship with the sender, there are steps you can take to stop receiving faxed advertisements.
While waiting for an important fax that should have been in your hands yesterday, you hear your fax machine ring. You walk over the fax machine with a sense of relief only to find a fax from a travel company offering you a $20 trip to Cancun--an annoying situation that is all too common. Although it sometimes may not seem like it, the U.S. government has established laws regarding unsolicited faxes.
Cable is a service that provides television channels and other products to customers. Since many cable companies have monopolies, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has created several regulations that oversee various aspects of the cable companies' relationships with customers, including the ways in which the companies install cables into customers' homes.
The switch from analog to digital television (DTV) broadcasting in the U.S. was a landmark event for the industry and the viewing public. Consumers with analog television sets who received programming over the airwaves were required to purchase a converter box to be compatible with the new digital format. In a related event, wireless microphone users also learned that their devices would soon become obsolete.
An unsolicited fax is often the equivalent of a combination between a telemarketer call and email spam. Like email spam, unsolicited faxes are usually advertising material sent out on a massive scale. However, unsolicited faxing differs from telemarketing and email spam because it passes a financial cost on to the receiver. In the United States, federal and state governments have enacted several laws aimed at controlling the proliferation of unsolicited faxes. Familiarizing yourself with these laws can arm you to take legal action against senders of unsolicited faxes.
Citizen’s Band (CB) radio is governed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). CB radios are a low cost way to communicate wirelessly. A linear amplifier is a device that goes between your CB and antenna to increase the power of the CB transmitter. The rules for CB radio are in the Code of Federal Regulations Title 47, Part 95, Subpart D.
The Federal Communications Communication, or FCC, is a government agency that issues licenses and regulates the communications industry, including radio. Because of licensing requirements, radio stations must adhere to FCC regulations regarding songs and play lists. Although regulations can make it difficult for independent artists to receive air play for their songs, newer regulations are providing additional ways for the FCC to regulate independent music.
The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act, enacted by Congress in 2003, was set in place to curb unsolicited and expensive advertisements to wireless devices through short message service (SMS), more commonly known as text messaging. This act supplements the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991. Businesses and individuals found to be in violation of the act face fines from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in addition to potential prosecution under state law.
Anyone who's fed up with the commercial radio stations in his market might dream of operating a pirate radio station. In most circumstances, firing up a pirate signal isn't just illegal, it risks heavy fines and imprisonment for pirate radio operators, as such broadcasts violate federal law and are invariably shut down by the Federal Communications Commission.
It is imperative for marketers who use faxing as a part of their marketing campaigns to have a thorough understanding of the laws on faxing in order to avoid the severe penalties associated with noncompliance. Furthermore, it is important for the recipients of "junk faxes" to understand their rights under the laws so that the resources dedicated to their fax machines are not wasted.
Cable television was developed as a solution for those who were unable to receive television stations because of distance. Cable operators caught television signals and then transferred them to customers through a coaxial cable for a fee. As the use of cable television services became more widespread, cable company laws were developed to regulate these companies.
The Federal Communications Commission regulates cell towers, the towers that provide cellular signals so that consumers may use cell phones. The FCC has laws regarding where towers may be built and how they must be maintained. The agency also works in conjunction with the Federal Aviation Administration to ensure that towers do not present safety risks for aircraft.
Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a digital means of telecommunication. Telephone calls are passed through a VoIP converter box, which creates a voice footprint and converts it to a digital signal. This signal is then routed over the Internet to any telephone number in the world. The result is a cheaper means of communicating that takes full advantage of modern technology. The FCC imposes a number of regulatory issues on VoIP companies, however; consumers should be aware of what these rules are.
Fax blasts, or transmission of advertisements via fax to many recipients at once, are a legal way for companies to advertise. Recipients sometimes perceive the faxes as junk and nuisances as they have to expend resources to print the documents they did not expressly request. The Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005 establishes federal rules for solicitation by fax machines that give consumers recourse. People with private, unadvertised fax numbers who have never divulged their fax numbers to companies should never receive junk faxes from these companies legally.
Recently power companies, cable companies and telephone companies have begun to bury lines to keep them safe from falling tree branches during storm. This is true primarily in newer subdivisions. However, during the cable boom of the early 1980s many of these lines were connected to power and telephone poles.
