PIAC Legacy Project: Introduction

As this Nation's 1,600 television stations begin to convert to a digital television format, it is appropriate to reexamine the longstanding social compact between broadcasters and the American people. In the words of Vice President Al Gore, this coming transition represents "the greatest transformation in television's history...one that is truly bigger than the shift from black and white to color....It's like the difference between a one-man band and a symphony."(1) The quality of governance, intelligence of political discourse, diversity of free expression, vitality of local communities, opportunities for education and instruction, and many other dimensions of American life will be affected profoundly by how digital television evolves. As a free and ubiquitous medium, over-the-air television has been and will continue to be a central, defining force in American society. Thus, the American people have a vital stake in the character of television in the new digital era.

Much remains unknown about the future of digital television, which is precisely why President Clinton established the Advisory Committee on Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters. It is important to help affirmatively shape the new digital television era, in concert with market forces and the technology itself, by recommending appropriate legal obligations and marketplace rules.

Acting on behalf of the American public, this is a role the Federal Government has played since the inception of broadcasting. As decreed by Congress, and affirmed by the Supreme Court, the airways are a public resource legally owned by the American people.(2) Broadcasters are licensed to use those airwaves, acting as fiduciaries for the public good, and the Congress and the Federal Communications Commission are authorized to ensure that broadcasters fulfill this function.

The framework for broadcasting was first articulated by Herbert Hoover when he was serving as Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s. "The ether is a public medium, and its use must be for a public benefit," Hoover said. "The dominant element for consideration in the radio field is, and always will be, the great body of the listening public, millions in number, country-wide in distribution."(3)

This principle is the golden thread that has run through more than seven decades of broadcasting. It was enshrined in the Radio Act of 1927 and the Communications Act of 1934 in the mandate that broadcasting serve the "public interest, convenience and necessity."(4) It has been elaborated on through numerous FCC regulations designed to enhance diversity of expression, political discourse, children's programming, and other important cultural functions. And it has been reaffirmed by Supreme Court rulings that balance the First Amendment rights of speakers and viewers/listeners in broadcasting.(5) The specific public interest obligations of television broadcasters have varied over time, but the principles of public interest service have been, and remain, central to the defining charter of broadcasting.

This Advisory Committee's recommendations on how public interest obligations of television broadcasters ought to change in the new digital television era -- outlined in Section III below -- represent a new stage in the ongoing evolution of the public interest standard: a needed reassessment in light of dramatic changes in communications technology, market structures, and the needs of a democratic society.

Before presenting those recommendations, this report reviews the historical events that have brought broadcasting to this point. Section I describes the evolution of digital television technology, while Section II describes the events that have affected the development of the public interest standard since 1927. These histories provide a useful context for understanding the Advisory Committee's recommendations and how they seek to preserve and extend many well-established principles in the new media environment. They also shed light on the special challenges of bringing commercial objectives and public needs into greater alignment in broadcast television, whose free and ubiquitous programming and tradition of public responsibilities make it a very special resource in American society.

ENDNOTES

(1) Vice President Al Gore, Address at the inaugural meeting of the Advisory Committee on Public Interest Obligations (Oct. 22, 1997).

(2 ) See, 47 U.S.C. - 301 (1997); Federal Communications Comm'n v. Sanders Bros. Radio Station, 309 U.S. 470, 475 (1939).

(3) Proceedings of the Fourth National Radio Conference, Washington, DC, Nov. 9-11, 1925 (Wash- ington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1926), p. 7.

(4) Radio Act of 1927, Pub. L. No. 632, 44 Stat. 1162, - 4 (1927). See also 47 U.S.C. -- 307(a), 309(a), 310(d).

(5) See, e.g., Turner Broad. Sys., Inc. v. FCC, 512 U.S. 622, 650 (1994), vacated and remanded, 910 F. Supp. 734 (1995), aff 'd, 520 U.S. 180 (1997); Columbia Broad. Sys., Inc. v. Democratic Nat'l Comm., 412 U.S. 94, 117-18 (1973).