Mark Jamison, Non-resident Senior Fellow at public policy think tank The American Enterprise Institute, has suggested it is time to disband the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), arguing that it has “run its course”, having become “a convenient political tool”.

Writing in the AEIdeas blog, he suggests that current FCC Chairman Brendan Carr now has the chance to join a list of deregulatory heroes by dismantling the agency he leads.

“Why disband the FCC? Because it has become a convenient political tool, it too often abandons its independence, and the very reasons for its creation in 1934 have disappeared,” he claims. “As others and I have noted, the FCC was designed to regulate the old Bell telephone monopoly and to oversee the public airwaves. Independence mattered because regulated businesses needed stability across administrations to make the massive infrastructure investments needed for expanding our networks,” he explains.

“In part because its time has passed, the FCC has become a convenient political tool. It became an extension of the Democratic Party in the waning years of President Obama’s administration. An early step was announcing plans to investigate newsrooms, looking for bias and inattention to favourite Democratic themes. Trump followed this precedent, first with a failed attempt to have the agency regulate social media and more recently making his own claims of bias and questioning whether ABC and NBC should have their licenses revoked by the FCC. Carr subsequently weighed in on comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s comments regarding the killing of Charlie Kirk, appearing to pressure broadcasters regarding their political content,” he notes.

“In many instances, the FCC appears to have given up its independence,” he observes . “The 2015 net neutrality decision was driven by the Obama White House and widely derided for being devoid of sound economic reasoning. In 2016, agency leadership delayed a vote so Democratic lawmakers could pressure a commissioner. The FCC plan to regulate cable TV set-top boxes was driven by Senate Democrats, who supplied the agency’s error-ridden evidence supporting the idea. During this time, nearly all major votes split along party lines—a break from decades of tradition.”
According to Jamison, this politicisation matters. “When regulatory policy turns on partisan winds rather than steady principles, companies pull back on investment. Research confirms it: Politically driven regulation suppresses capital spending. The FCC’s net neutrality order depressed broadband investment precisely because it signalled instability.”

Jamison says that it is necessary to ask: “What is the FCC for today?”

His answer: ”Very little. The telecommunications monopoly it was built to police no longer exists. Many of its consumer protection and equipment authorisation functions could easily be handled by other agencies. Emergency services oversight does not require an independent body. International relations, homeland security, and policy analysis already overlap with other federal departments.”
Jamison suggests that leaves two functions worth keeping – neither of which requires the FCC. “First, spectrum management. Radio spectrum is valuable real estate and politically connected businesses have long sought to bend rules in their favour. In part to remedy this, the FCC has built a world-leading auction system for licensing spectrum. These auctions should be expanded to cover broadcasting and then be run by a more scientific and technically minded agency, with narrow, clearly defined powers insulating the work from lobbying.”

“Second, universal service subsidies. These originated in the era of telephone monopolies and the foundations of today’s subsidies are mostly relics. Where broadband subsidies are justified, states have shown they are better equipped to handle them than the federal government. The Biden administration’s disastrous attempt to launch the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program—which left billions of dollars mired in bureaucracy—only underscores the point. There are now many sophisticated state broadband offices that can collaborate on broadband mapping (when needed), continually improve best practices, and coordinate without federal oversight.”

“The FCC has run its course,” he asserts. “Congress should dissolve the agency, shed outdated regulatory functions, transfer what remains to competent homes, and assign spectrum management to a technical body free of partisan manipulation. Chairman Carr should lead the charge. Doing so would place him alongside the great deregulators who made America’s economy more competitive, more dynamic, and more innovative,” he concludes.

Other posts by :

1. 650 Starlink D2C craft in orbit
2. Bank upgrades SES to ‘Buy’
3. Eutelsat shareholders reach agreement at AGM
4. Ghana makes MultiChoice fee decision
5. SES announces €0.25c dividend
6. Russia “blinding and destroying” German satellites
7. Bank: AST, Starlink, Kuiper targeting $200bn market
8. Rivada: Is no news good news?
9. SES celebrates Intelsat acquisition

Categories: Articles, Broadband, Broadcast, Business, FTA, Pay TV, Policy, Regulation, Spectrum, Telco

Tags: Brendan Carr, FCC, Federal Communications Commission, Mark Jamison, The American Enterprise Institute