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The Emergency Alert System provides the President and local authorities the ability to send emergency information to the public over broadcast, cable, and satellite channels. EAS plays a critical role in public safety, ensuring that citizens receive important emergency information, such as weather alerts or Amber alerts, quickly and effectively.

Local Number Portability allows consumers to retain their existing telephone numbers when switching from one communications provider to another. The FCC's enforcement ensures that carriers facilitate these transfers, supporting consumer choice and promoting competition among service providers.

The FCC enforces federal laws regarding the broadcast of indecent and obscene content. Indecent content refers to material that may be inappropriate for children yet does not meet the stricter standard for obscenity, which is material deemed to have no serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. The regulations impact broadcasters by restricting the time of day when indecent content may be aired.

The FCC's EEO rules require that all broadcast and pay TV licensees afford equal opportunity in employment and not discriminate based on race, color, religion, national origin, or gender. These rules impact communications by promoting diversity in the workforce of the broadcasting and telecommunications industry.

FCC regulations require mobile carriers to offer roaming services to customers of other networks at reasonable prices and on non-discriminatory terms. This ensures consumers remain connected even when traveling outside their home network's coverage area. The impact includes wider access to services and promotes competition among wireless providers.

Spectrum licensing gives an entity the rights to transmit signals on specific bands of the radio spectrum. The FCC regulates these licenses to prevent interference between users and to allocate the spectrum for various types of services like mobile, satellite, and broadcast. Effective management impacts both the telecommunications industry and various wireless services consumers rely on daily.

The Universal Service Fund is a system of telecommunications subsidies and fees managed by the FCC, which supports universal access to telecommunications services in the United States, particularly in rural and high-cost areas. USF ensures that low-income households and those in areas where the cost of providing service is high can still obtain affordable telecommunications services.

Closed captioning involves the display of text on a television or other video screen to provide additional or interpretive information. The FCC requires certain broadcasters and cable providers to offer closed captioning to ensure that viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing have access to the audio portion of the video programming. This extends the audience of television programming and ensures compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest due to their use of the public airwaves. The FCC can enforce policies that require stations to provide educational programming for children, community-based information, political broadcasting opportunities like the 'Equal Time Rule', and other public service-oriented programming.

Net Neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all internet communications equally and not discriminate or charge differently based on user, content, website, platform, application, or method of communication. Following these regulations, ISPs cannot intentionally block, slow down, or charge money for specific online content. The impact of this is significant as it ensures a free and open internet where all businesses and services have an equal chance to reach audiences without any gatekeepers.

TRS are operator services that allow people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have speech disabilities to place calls to standard telephone users via a text telephone (TTY) or other devices. The FCC's regulations ensure that TRS services are available to all who need them, thus providing a means for equal access to telecommunications.

The FCC sometimes refers to video streaming services like Netflix and Hulu as Over-the-Top services since they provide content over the internet that bypasses traditional distribution. Regulations in this area are still developing, but the FCC's decisions on matters like net neutrality and broadband classifications affect OTT services' quality and market competition.

The Digital Television Transition refers to the shift from analog to digital broadcasting that occurred in 2009. The FCC regulated this transition to free up valuable broadcast spectrum for emergency communications and advanced wireless services. The impact on consumers was significant, as it required extra equipment or new televisions for continued reception and provided higher quality broadcasts.

The Do-Not-Call Implementation Act enables consumers to limit telemarketing calls by establishing a National Do-Not-Call Registry. The FCC, along with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), is responsible for enforcing the rules that require telemarketers to refrain from calling numbers on the registry. This act impacts consumer privacy and reduces unwanted telemarketing.

This Act aimed to increase competition in the cable television industry and provide more protections for cable consumers. The FCC, under this act, established regulations for cable rates and enhanced customer service standards. It impacts the balance between protecting consumer interests and fostering service provider competition.

The FCC sets rules for media ownership to prevent any single company from dominating the airwaves and to promote a diversity of viewpoints in local markets. The rules limit the number of television and radio stations one entity can own in a single market, and they also govern cross-ownership between newspapers, television, and radio. These regulations impact the media landscape by encouraging a multiplicity of voices and preventing monopolies.

COPPA is a law that imposes certain requirements on operators of websites or online services directed to children under 13 years of age, and on operators of other websites or online services that have actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information online from a child under 13 years of age. It has a substantial impact on the protection of children's privacy online by restricting the collection and use of personal information from minors.

The FCC conducts auctions of licenses for electromagnetic spectrum. These auctions are designed to ensure efficient use of the spectrum, a critical resource for wireless communication, and to raise revenues for the U.S. government. Broadcaster participation in these auctions can significantly redistribute the use of spectrum and influence the development and deployment of wireless services, like 5G.

VoIP services allow users to make telephone calls using a broadband Internet connection instead of a regular (or analog) phone line. The FCC regulates certain aspects of VoIP to ensure reliability, emergency services connectivity (like 911), and contribute to the Universal Service Fund (USF), which can impact the services' prices and availability.