Regulating the Future

This comprehensive study examines the case of AM stereo and subsequent technologies to demonstrate the FCC's evolution from stern to reluctant regulator. It also examines emerging technologies, such as multichannel television sound, digital audio broadcasting, and high definition television, and discusses their impact on the evolution of broadcast regulation. In the 1980s the tension between governmental control and the marketplace resulted in the FCC's deregulation of TV and radio, electing to set only technical operating parameters and allowing legal operation of any system that meets those minimal standards. Huff argues that this approach is likely to influence regulatory approaches to other new developments in broadcast technologies. The extensive overview of the industry and the study of the interrelationships between the technologies will appeal to communication scholars in the fields of radio and television as well as interest industry professionals.

W. A. Kelly Huff is Professor of Communication in the Department of Communication at Truett-McConnell College.