Federal Communications Act

The Communications Act of 1934 is a foundational U.S. law for telecommunications policy. It established the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), an independent agency tasked with regulating interstate and foreign communications across radio, television, wire, and satellite.

This act built upon the Radio Act of 1927, which aimed to bring order to the rapidly growing and often chaotic radio industry. The 1927 act created the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) and introduced the principle of "public interest, convenience, and necessity" (PICN) as the guiding criterion for regulation, recognizing the airwaves as a public utility.

The Communications Act of 1934 made the FCC a permanent body, expanding its authority to include telephone and telegraph communications, as well as the emerging fields of FM radio and television. It retained the core principles of the Radio Act of 1927, including the PICN standard and the concept of public ownership of the airwaves.1