The Federal Communications Commission FCC

In the 1920s radio stations jammed each other's signals until listeners heard little but noise, and the Commerce Department lacked the power to stop them. Congress created a Federal Radio Commission in 1927 to license stations and assign frequencies, then folded it, with the telephone and telegraph oversight of the Interstate Commerce Commission, into a new Federal Communications Commission under the Communications Act, signed June 19, 1934. The principle written into that act still governs: the airwaves belong to the public, and broadcasters use them under license to serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity.

The FCC licenses radio and television stations and allocates the radio spectrum for commercial use, including the frequencies behind cell phones, Wi-Fi, and satellite service. Since 1994 it has auctioned spectrum licenses, raising well over 200 billion dollars for the Treasury. It regulates interstate telephone service and the parts of cable and satellite television Congress has assigned it, sets technical standards for devices that emit radio signals, enforces rules on broadcast indecency and political advertising, and administers the Universal Service Fund that subsidizes phone and internet service for rural areas, schools, libraries, and low-income households. Federal agencies' own spectrum is managed separately by the Commerce Department.

Five commissioners, appointed by the President for staggered five-year terms with no more than three from one party, run the agency, and the President designates the Chair. About 1,500 people work there. The FCC's jurisdiction over the internet has been its longest fight: whether broadband providers should be classified as common carriers subject to net neutrality rules has flipped with nearly every change of administration since 2010, until a federal appeals court held in January 2025 that the agency lacked authority to impose those rules at all. In 2025 the Supreme Court upheld the Universal Service Fund against a challenge that its funding mechanism was unconstitutional.

The commission's licensing power over broadcasters gives it leverage over content that critics have long warned could be misused. In 2025 the agency opened investigations into the major television networks over news coverage and diversity practices, conditioned merger approvals on commitments regarding newsrooms, and its Chair publicly pressured broadcasters over a late-night host's remarks. Supporters said the agency was holding networks to the public interest standard. Critics, including some Republicans, said it was using regulatory power to punish speech the administration disliked, raising First Amendment concerns.