Deregulation of commercial TV in the USA: Control by government or market

Following the FCC's decision to partially deregulate radio, attention is now focusing on the possibility of television deregulation. The authors review the radio deregulation decision and apply similar criteria to television. Debate centres around government v marketplace control; the extent to which stations meet FCC standards for information, local and total non-entertainment programming; and, the effect of deregulation on provision of non-entertainment programming. The real question is when should deregulation take place. The authors suggest that the FCC and Congress should pave the way for deregulation by encouraging competition.