| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
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a revolutionary technology capable of expanding access to education, improving democratic deliberation, and generally facilitating the resolution of numerous social problems. Over time, the broad and inclusive themes associated with the cable discourse captured the imaginations of FCC officials and of a diverse array of organized interests, creating a shared language through which problem solving could be approached. According to Streeter, the new discourse impacted the content of the 1972 rules in key respects; for example, the FCC required cable systems to make public access, educational, and governmental channels available at the community level.
Within two years of the publication of Streeter's argument, Patrick Parsons published an article in which he argued that discursive framing had also influenced the FCC's cable television deliberations in the 1950s and early 1960s.30 According to Parsons, cable television's early years were a time when cable and broadcast interests were competing to frame the new technology in ways that advantaged their own policy preferences. In these efforts, however, each side was forced to navigate the opportunities and constraints presented by norms, legal structures, and the existing balance of political power. Broadcasters sought regulation of cable television in an effort to avoid competition. Under existing legal arrangements, the most effective way to advance this position was to portray cable as a direct extension of the broadcast system; as such, cable would be immediately subject to regulation by the FCC. Members of the cable industry, by contrast, sought to avoid FCC regulation and adherence to copyright laws. With these goals in view, they chose to present cable as little more than an extension of the viewer's television antenna and thus not subject to regulation under existing laws. By the early 1960s, the broadcasters’ frame had prevailed, in large part because the balance of political power shifted in their favor.