• Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Because the FCC’s authority over content is contingent on its authority to license portions of the electromagnetic spectrum for broadcast.

    • jaybone@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Doesn’t FCC still regulate cable? Just they have different regulations regarding network broadcast tv. (Hence Fox News would not get called out for this.)

      • mkwt@lemmy.world
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        23 hours ago

        Due to technical reasons, it is possible to have many, many more cable or satellite channels than over the air broadcast channels.

        The FCC is allowed to put “reasonable” restrictions on the content if the over the air channels because of that scarcity.

        The default position in the US is that both cable and broadcast have a 1st amendment right to say whatever they want. The FCC is only allowed to infringe on that right for the broadcasters, because they are consuming a scarce public resource.