This Communications Law Institute course will examine federal electronic mass media policy and regulation as formulated, implemented, and interpreted by the Congress, the Federal Communications Commission, and the courts. The course will first provide an overview of the electronic mass media industry and the FCC, then relate First Amendment jurisprudence and case law to contrasting concepts of broadcast regulation. Using this analytical framework as a reference, the course will cover the role of the FCC in spectrum allocation, FCC licensing policy and regulation, FCC economic structural policy and regulation, FCC content-behavioral policy and regulation, and the impact of emerging and converging electronic mass media technologies such as cable TV and direct broadcast satellites on future mass media policy and regulation and the First Amendment. Enrollment limited to 25 students. Non-institute students may elect this course on a space-available basis. This course does not satisfy the law school’s writing requirement. The basis for the final grade is primarily a paper. 

Upper-level course for:
VIII. Communication Law and New Technologies
XI. Entertaiment, Art, and Sports Law