Congressional Research Service Reports - 438 Matching Results

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Regulation of Broadcast Indecency: Background and Legal Analysis

Description: Two prominent television events in the past two years placed increased attention on the FCC and its indecency regulations. The airing of the 2003 Golden Globe Awards and the subsequent ruling by the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, coupled with the controversy surrounding the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, brought broadcast indecency to the forefront of the congressional agenda during the 108th Congress. Several bills were introduced, but not enacted, in the 108th Congress to increase the penalties im… more
Date: March 30, 2005
Creator: Welborn, Angie A. & Cohen, Henry
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Bundling Residential Telephone, Internet, and Video Services: Issues for Congress

Description: This report discusses bundling and public policy issues for Congress. The federal Universal Service Fund - the federal subsidy program that assures affordable telephone rates for high-cost (rural) and low-income telephone customers as well as for schools, libraries, and rural health facilities - is supported by an assessment on interstate telecommunications revenues only. But it is difficult to identify the portion of revenues generated by a bundled service offering attributable to the intersta… more
Date: February 17, 2004
Creator: Goldfarb, Charles B.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Wireless Technology and Spectrum Demand: Third Generation (3G) and Beyond

Description: Advances in wireless telecommunications technology are converging with Internet technology to foster new generations of applications and services. Presently, the United States and other countries are moving to third-generation (3G) and fourth-generation mobile telephony. The defining feature of these technologies is that transmission speeds are significantly faster than prevailing technologies. A related trend is the growth in use of Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) and WiMAX (an industry designation … more
Date: May 27, 2004
Creator: Moore, Linda K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Cable and Satellite Television Network Tiering and a la Carte Options for Consumers: Issues for Congress

Description: The large cable programmers, who provide most of the popular cable (and broadcast) television programming, respond that a single large expanded basic service tier represents the most efficient way to offer programming and that allowing customers to obtain networks on an a la carte basis or in small tiers would raise costs – and hence prices to consumers – and also reduce the diversity of programs offered, so that consumer welfare would suffer in the long run. In this report, the pros and cons o… more
Date: June 9, 2004
Creator: Goldfarb, Charles B.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Electronic Payments and the U.S. Payments System

Description: This report provides a framework for understanding the paper-based and electronic components of the current U.S. payments system. It begins with a basic overview of the payments system, explaining the relative size and growth of various methods of payment. The report discusses paper-based payments and then examines the operations of wholesale and retail electronic payments. Finally, the report discusses some of the major policy issues concerning the regulation and supervision of electronic paym… more
Date: June 27, 2002
Creator: Eubanks, Walter W. & Smale, Pauline
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Emergency Communications: The Emergency Alert System (EAS) and All-Hazard Warnings

Description: The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is one of several federally managed warning systems. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) jointly administers EAS with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in cooperation with the National Weather Service (NWS), an organization within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The NOAA/NWS weather radio system has been upgraded to an all-hazard warning capability. This report summarizes the technology and administration of EAS … more
Date: September 2, 2005
Creator: Moore, Linda K. & Reese, Shawn
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Public Safety Communications: Policy, Proposals, Legislation and Progress

Description: Since September 11, 2001, the effectiveness of America’s communications capabilities in support of the information needs of first responders and other public safety workers have been a matter of concern to Congress. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (P.L. 108-458) included sections that responded to recommendations made by the 9/ll Commission, in its report of July 2004, and by others in recent years, regarding public safety communications. Nonetheless, there is much … more
Date: June 8, 2005
Creator: Moore, Linda K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Corporation for Public Broadcasting: Federal Funding Facts and Status

Description: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, created in 1967, receives approximately 15% of its annual funding from federal appropriations. In turn, the CPB, acting as an umbrella agency, is required to spend 89 percent of the appropriations in grants to members of Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), National Public Radio (NPR), Public Radio International (PRI), and other affiliated public television and radio broadcasters.
Date: June 22, 2005
Creator: McLoughlin, Glenn J.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Corporation for Public Broadcasting: Federal Funding Facts and Status

Description: Congressional policymakers are closely examining federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). Overall, 15.6% of all public television and radio broadcasting funding comes from the federal appropriations that CPB distributes. The CPB’s appropriation is allocated through a distribution formula established in its authorizing legislation. It has historically received two-year advanced appropriations.
Date: July 25, 2005
Creator: McLoughlin, Glenn J.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Amber Alert Program Technology

Description: This report discusses provisions in the National Intelligence Reform Act of 2004 to test Amber Alert network technology for use in expanding the Emergency Alert System (EAS). The Amber Alert network utilizes a combination of technologies, such as highway messages boards, the Internet, and text messaging, to ensure the swift recovery of abducted children.
Date: May 18, 2005
Creator: Moore, Linda K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Communications Act Revisions: Selected Issues for Consideration

Description: This report provides an overview of selected topics which the 109th Congress may address in its examination of telecommunications issues. The issues included in this report cover: broadband Internet regulation and access; broadcast indecency; digital television transition; Federal Communications Commission structure and reform; intercarrier compensation; media ownership rules; municipal deployment of broadband; public safety communications, the “savings clause” and monopoly issues; spectrum auc… more
Date: September 19, 2005
Creator: Gilroy, Angele A.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Digital TV Transition: A Brief Overview

Description: Congressional policymakers are seeking a way to accelerate the nation’s transition to digital television and to expedite the transfer of radio frequency channels from the broadcast industry to public safety and commercial users no later than 2009. Broadcasters are holding spectrum in the 700MHz band (channels 52-69) that they would be required to relinquish after the transition to digital television (DTV) is achieved. Without a hard deadline, the transition to digital television has been postpo… more
Date: August 12, 2005
Creator: Kruger, Lennard G. & Moore, Linda K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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An Emergency Communications Safety Net: Integrating 911 and Other Services

Description: The 9/11 Commission Report recommended that 911 call centers — also called Public Safety Answering Points, or PSAPs — be included in planning for emergency responses.1 Congress, which has since 1999 passed two bills to further the deployment of 911, is reviewing ways to expand 911 capabilities and make it more accessible and effective. Congress is also evaluating ways to improve emergency alerts2 and interoperable communications for public safety.3 Operational convergence of emergency communica… more
Date: September 1, 2005
Creator: Moore, Linda K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Deficit Reduction and Spectrum Auctions: FY2006 Budget Reconciliation

Description: The Congressional Budget Office has informally estimated a value of $10 billion from auction proceeds for these commercial channels; many believe the amount could be higher. Broadcasters are holding this valuable spectrum (channels 52-69) but would be required to relinquish it after the transition to digital television (DTV) is achieved. Without a hard deadline, the transition to digital television has been delayed and the spectrum has not been made available for other uses. Congress anticipate… more
Date: October 20, 2005
Creator: Moore, Linda K. & Kruger, Lennard G.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Spectrum Management and Special Funds

Description: The Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act (P.L. 108-494, Title II) establishes a Spectrum Relocation Fund to hold the proceeds of certain spectrum auctions for the specific purpose of reimbursing federal entities for the costs of moving to new frequency assignments. The spectrum to be vacated will be sold to wireless service providers to expand advanced communications services. In addition to furthering the development of new wireless technologies, passage of the act represents a new aspect of na… more
Date: August 2, 2005
Creator: Moore, Linda K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Copyright Protection of Digital Television: The "Broadcast Flag"

Description: This report addresses the adoption of a “broadcast flag” system by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to protect digital television (DTV) broadcasts from unauthorized redistribution. The report also addresses the recent decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversing and vacating the FCC’s broadcast flag report and order.
Date: May 11, 2005
Creator: Welborn, Angie A.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Defining Cable Broadband Internet Access Service: Background and Analysis of the Supreme Court's Brand X Decision

Description: This report provides an overview of the regulatory actions leading up to and an analysis of the Supreme Court’s decision in National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X Internet Services. It also provides a discussion of the possible legal and economic implications of the Court’s decision.
Date: July 7, 2005
Creator: Welborn, Angie A. & Goldfarb, Charles B.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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