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What’s New 5th Edition

Here are the major changes in the 5th edition.

The goal was to streamline the text by aggressively simplifying the organization and pruning material that is no longer useful. We also decreased technological detail and regulatory history that were slowing down readers without sufficient pedagogical payoff. You will notice that the book is still arranged according to core concepts—power, entry, pricing, access, classification, content, and intermediary—but we also added new material on communications privacy. In addition to the new material, the biggest structural changes were (1) the removal of Chapter 5: Good Content and Chapter 6: Consolidation, (2) splitting Bad Content into two chapters and (3) moving Bad Content and Intermediary Liability after Chapter 5: Classification.

CHAPTER 1: POWER

  • Added C.1.b Antitrust Law

CHAPTER 2: ENTRY

  • Now organized by industry (A. Broadcast, B. Telephony, C. Cable Television)
  • Compressed lengthy section A.4 Mobile Telephony into Note: Mobile Telephony
  • Cut zoning material, including MetroPCS and Primeco
  • Replaced section B. Methods of Regulating Entry with Note: Distributing Scarce Resources
  • Cut Note: Scarcity’s End and Spectrum Task Force Report

CHAPTER 3: PRICING

  • Now organized by industry (A. Telephony, B. Cable Television)
  • Consolidated sections A.1.b. Continuing Surveillance and A.1.c. Rate-of-Return Regulation into new section A.1.b. Reviewing the Methods with sub-sections on 1. Continuing Surveillance, 2. Rate-of-Return Regulation, and 3. Price Cap Regulation
  • Cut excerpts on rate regulation, including Rates for Competitive Common Carrier Services and Rates for Dominant Carriers
  • Shortened excerpt from USTA v. FCC
  • Condensed subsidization material and moved section B. Subsidizing to A.3. Subsidizing Prices with subsections a. Before 1996: Implicit Subsidies and b. After 1996: Explicit Subsidies
  • Cut excerpt on Access Charge Reform
  • Cut section B.2. Challenging Subsidies, including Note: Intercarrier Compensation
  • Added Note: Connect America Fund
  • Moved section A.2.b. Constitutionality: First Amendment to B. Cable Television with new subsections 1. Setting Prices and 2. Challenging Prices: First Amendment

CHAPTER 4: ACCESS

  • Formerly Chapter 7: Access
  • Renamed subsections A.1 and A.2. Notes on the fairness doctrine and the broadcast television industry have been incorporated into the introductory material for those two subsections.
  • Compressed lengthy excerpt from Schurz Communications v. FCC into Note: Financial Syndication Rules (FinSyn)
  • Moved material, including excerpt of Turner Broadcasting v. FCC and Note: Cable and Broadcast TV Relations, from Chapter 5: Good Content B.3.a. Cable Television: Must-carry to new section of Chapter 4: Access B.1.a. Must-carry
  • Added Note: Rise of Retransmission Consent
  • Added new subsection B.1.b. Public, Educational, Governmental Channels
  • Renamed section B.1. Leased Access as section B.1.c. Leased Access
  • Renamed section B.2. MSO Dominance as section B.2. Access to the Multiple System Operator
  • Moved material on DBS from Chapter 5: Good Content B.3.b. Direct Broadcast Satellite: Non-Commercial Programming to new section of Chapter 4: Access C. Direct Broadcast Satellite with new subsections 1. Technology, 2. Context, and 3. Access to the DBS System (including excerpts from Time Warner Entertainment Co. v. FCC)
  • Renamed section C. Telephony as section D. Telephony
  • Radically simplified discussion of the breakup of AT&T
  • Cut Note: Antitrust Law and excerpts from Glen O. Robinson, The Titanic Remembered and United States v. AT&T
  • Replaced section C.2. Local Interconnection with new section D.2. Access to the Local Exchange
  • Added new subsection D.2.b. Intercarrier Compensation including a discussion of recent reform efforts
  • Renamed section D. Internet as section E. Internet with subsections 1. Technology and Context and 2. Access to Broadband Internet
  • Moved introductory technical material on Internet from Chapter 4: Bad Content section A.4.a. Technology to new Chapter 4: Access section E.1. Technology and Context
  • Radically simplified Internet Access material into new subsection D.2. Access to Broadband Internet with subsections a. The Problem and b. The FCC’s response
  • Cut excerpts from Broadband Policy Statement, Comcast Net Neutrality Order and 2010 Open Internet Order
  • Added excerpts from 2015 Open Internet Order and D.C. Circuit decision upholding the Order, USTA v. FCC
  • Added new Note: Neutrality Deeper in the Cloud

CHAPTER 5: CLASSIFICATION

  • Formerly Chapter 8: Classification
  • Broke section B. Present: Internet into two new sections B. Dial-up Internet and C. Broadband Internet
  • Cut excerpt Access Charge Reform
  • Moved section B.2. Broadband to new section C. Broadband Internet with subsection 1. Technology and Context, 2. Broadband Internet as Information Service, 3. Unintended Consequences: Access, and 4. Broadband Internet as Telecommunications Service
  • Moved excerpt Advanced Telecommunications Service to section C.1. Technology and Context
  • Added new Note: Cable Modem Service as Hybrid Service?
  • Cut Note: Computer Inquiries
  • Renamed section B.3. Limits on Ancillary Jurisdiction to section C.3. Unintended Consequences: Access
  • Replaced excerpt Preserving the Open Internet (2010 Open Internet Order) with excerpt Verizon v. FCC (D.C. Cir. 2014)
  • Added new section C.4. Broadband Internet as a Telecommunications Service, including excerpts from 2015 Open Internet Order and USTA v. FCC [New N&Qs]
  • Renamed section C. Nascent as new section D. Cross Platform Services
  • Cut excerpt from Universal Service Report
  • Updated material on VoIP and next generation video services
  • Renamed section C.2. IPTV as D.2. Next Generation Video Programming

CHAPTER 6: BAD CONTENT

  • Formerly Chapter 4: Bad Content subsection A. Flow and Filter
  • Renamed 4.A. Flow and Filter as Chapter 6: Bad Content section A. Indecency
  • Consolidated discussion of FCC v. Fox and related cases into a Note: Shifting Indecency Policies
  • Cut Note: Violence and the V-Chip
  • Moved discussion of internet technology and Werbach excerpt from section A.4.a to Chapter 4: Access section E.1
  • Cut Note: Layers of the Internet
  • Cut subsection A.4.b. Context, including excerpts from Liu and Mueller & Mathiason on internet governance
  • Added new section B. Privacy with subsections 1. Telephony, 2. Cable TV, and 3. Internet
  • The new privacy section includes excerpts from Bartnicki v. Vopper, NCTA v. FCC, Scofield v. Telecable of Overland Park, Joffe v. Google, and the 2016 FCC Broadband Privacy Rulemaking

CHAPTER 7: INTERMEDIARY

  • Formerly Chapter 4: Bad Content section B. Intermediary
  • Updated notes on recent cases