The Cable Question: Evolution or Revolution in Electronic Mass Communications

The federal broadcast regulatory structure has rested for almost a half century on one central base of authority, the frequency license privilege furnishing both the constitutional justification and administrative control essential for exercise of governmental supervision. Cable television marked the first serious challenge to this traditional foundation, its wired, audience-supported program delivery technique threatening the dissemination monopoly necessary for continued broadcast station operation and thus for continued supervision by the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC has been successful in restricting cable to an auxiliary broadcast service function, denying it the television signals necessary for major market penetration. Yet, despite commission hostility, cable appears far more a symptom than a cause of broadcast delivery problems, and only a portent of future multi-channel systems. This historical overview is designed to isolate a pattern of conduct over an extended period of time which may reveal internal bias, impairing the objectivity of the commission when evaluating such communication challenge. To the extent that the FCC may be predisposed to protect its established system at all cost, that cost may be too high to be acceptable in terms of vital service denied the public.