Cable Television Consumer Protection Act

Broadcasters first retaliated against the cable industry in the Cable Television Consumer Protection Act of 1992 (Thomas.gov), which set price caps on cable service, required that cable systems carry all broadcast television programs, and allowed broadcasters to charge cable operators a "retransmission consent" fee for their programs. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 did away with price caps, but the broadcast industry clung on to the latter provisions. As a result, the media industry consolidated. The broadcast networks teamed up with Hollywood studios and cable networks to better leverage their "free" network content for carriage by the cable operators.

Related SourceWatch resources

 * See the other articles at the Telecom, Media and Intellectual Property Policy (U.S.) portal.
 * See the main Congresspedia article on Digital television.
 * See the main Congresspedia article on Spectrum.

External Resources

 * Lennard Kruger, The Digital TV Transition: A Brief Overview Congressional Research Service, Aug. 12, 2005.
 * Lennard Kruger, Digital Television: An Overview Congressional Research Service, updated Jan. 23, 2007.