Understanding the Business of Entertainment

Chapter 6The FCC and Government Regulation of the Media

Introduction

Our current entertainment industry exists not only because of copyright and First Amendment law, but also because of specific regulatory decisions made by government officials. Therefore, to fully understand the modern entertainment business, one must understand the government activity, and inactivity, which has made and continues to make possible the current media landscape.

Let’s start with this assertion: America has long distrusted concentrations of power. Perhaps because of King George and his autocratic ways, we’ve been inherently suspicious of big government and, often throughout our history, big business as well. At different times in America’s past and with varying ...