Hastings Communications and Entertainment Law Journal Volume 6 | Number 4 Article 1 1-1-1984 The CF C and Pay Cable: Promoting Diversity on Television David Coursen Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/ hastings_comm_ent_law_journal Part of the Communications Law Commons, Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons, and the Intellectual Property Law Commons Recommended Citation David Coursen, The FCC and Pay Cable: Promoting Diversity on Television, 6 Hastings Comm. & Ent. L.J. 773 (1984). Available at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_comm_ent_law_journal/vol6/iss4/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hastings Communications and Entertainment Law Journal by an authorized editor of UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. The FCC and "Pay Cable:" Promoting Diversity on Television by DAVID COURSEN* I Introduction More than a decade ago, the Federal Communications Com- mission (FCC)' sought to increase television's diversity by freeing the emerging medium of pay cable 2 from rate regula- tion.' As the Commission had hoped, subscriber-supported * J.D., University of Oregon School of Law, 1984; B.A., University of Oregon, 1970; Member, Oregon State Bar. The author wishes to acknowledge the invaluable com- ments and suggestions of David Novick, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Communica- tions Law. 1. The FCC was created by the Communications Act of 1934, now codified at 47 U.S.C. §§ 151-609, "[fIor the purpose of regulating interstate and foreign commerce in communication by wire and radio." Id.