Federal
Title 47 — Telecommunications
432 sections, each with the official text and a plain-English explanation of what it means for you.
- § 309a — Reports related to spectrum auctions
- § 31 — Summary trials
- § 310 — License ownership restrictions
- § 311 — Requirements as to certain applications in broadcasting service
- § 312 — Administrative sanctions
- § 312a — Revocation of operator’s license used in unlawful distribution of controlled substances
- § 313 — Application of antitrust laws to manufacture, sale, and trade in radio apparatus
- § 314 — Competition in commerce; preservation
- § 315 — Candidates for public office
- § 316 — Modification by Commission of station licenses or construction permits; burden of proof
- § 317 — Announcement of payment for broadcast
- § 318 — Transmitting apparatus; operator’s license
- § 319 — Construction permits
- § 32 — Application
- § 320 — Stations liable to interfere with distress signals; designation and regulation
- § 321 — Distress signals and communications; equipment on vessels; regulations
- § 322 — Exchanging radio communications between land and ship stations and from ship to ship
- § 323 — Interference between Government and commercial stations
- § 324 — Use of minimum power
- § 325 — False, fraudulent, or unauthorized transmissions
- § 326 — Censorship
- § 327 — Naval stations; use for commercial messages; rates
- § 328 — Repealed. Pub. L. 103–414, title III, § 304(a)(10) , Oct. 25, 1994 , 108 Stat. 4297
- § 329 — Administration of radio laws in Territories and possessions
- § 33 — Jurisdiction and venue of actions and offenses
- § 330 — Prohibition against shipment of certain television receivers
- § 331 — Very high frequency stations and AM radio stations
- § 332 — Mobile services
- § 333 — Willful or malicious interference
- § 334 — Limitation on revision of equal employment opportunity regulations
- § 335 — Direct broadcast satellite service obligations
- § 336 — Broadcast spectrum flexibility
- § 337 — Allocation and assignment of new public safety services licenses and commercial licenses
- § 338 — Carriage of local television signals by satellite carriers
- § 339 — Carriage of distant television stations by satellite carriers
- § 34 — Licenses for landing or operating cables connecting United States with foreign country; necessity for
- § 340 — Significantly viewed signals permitted to be carried
- § 341 — Carriage of television signals to certain subscribers
- § 342 — Process for issuing qualified carrier certification
- § 343 — Conditions on commercial terrestrial operations
- § 344 — Repealed. Pub. L. 117–58, div. F, title VI, § 60602(b) , Nov. 15, 2021 , 135 Stat. 1249
- § 345 — Protection of survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, and related crimes
- § 35 — Withholding or revoking of licenses by President; terms and conditions of licenses
- § 351 — Ship radio stations and operations
- § 352 — Exemptions
- § 353 — Radio equipment and operators
- § 353a — Operators and watches on radiotelephone equipped ships
- § 354 — Technical requirements of equipment on radiotelegraph equipped ships
- § 354a — Technical requirements of equipment on radiotelephone equipped ships
- § 355 — Survival craft
- § 356 — Approval of installations by Commission
- § 357 — Safety information
- § 358 — Master’s control over operations
- § 359 — Certificates of compliance; issuance, modification, and cancellation
- § 36 — Preventing landing or operating of cables; injunction
- § 360 — Station licenses; inspection of equipment by Commission
- § 361 — Control by Commission; review of decisions
- § 362 — Forfeitures; recovery
- § 363 — Automated ship distress and safety systems
- § 37 — Violations; punishment
- § 38 — “United States” defined
- § 381 — Vessels transporting more than six passengers for hire required to be equipped with radiotelephone
- § 382 — Vessels excepted from radiotelephone requirement
- § 383 — Exemptions by Commission
- § 384 — Authority of Commission; operations, installations, and additional equipment
- § 385 — Inspections
- § 386 — Forfeitures
- § 39 — Amendment, modification, etc., of rights granted
- § 390 — Declaration of purpose
- § 391 — Authorization of appropriations
- § 392 — Grants for construction
- § 392a — Repealed. Pub. L. 95–567, title II, § 201 , Nov. 2, 1978 , 92 Stat. 2409
- § 393 — Criteria for approval and expenditures by Secretary
- § 393a — Long-range planning for facilities
- § 394 — Establishment of National Endowment
- § 395 — Assistance for demonstration projects
- § 396 — Corporation for Public Broadcasting
- § 397 — Definitions
- § 398 — Federal interference or control
- § 399 — Support of political candidates prohibited
- § 399a — Use of business or institutional logograms
- § 399b — Offering of certain services, facilities, or products by public broadcast station
- § 401 — Enforcement provisions
- § 402 — Judicial review of Commission’s orders and decisions
- § 403 — Inquiry by Commission on its own motion
- § 404 — Reports of investigations
- § 405 — Petition for reconsideration; procedure; disposition; time of filing; additional evidence; time for disposition of petition for reconsideration of order concluding hearing or investigation; appeal of order
- § 406 — Compelling furnishing of facilities; mandamus; jurisdiction
- § 407 — Order for payment of money; petition for enforcement; procedure; order of Commission as prima facie evidence; costs; attorneys’ fees
- § 408 — Order not for payment of money; when effective
- § 409 — Hearings
- § 410 — Joint boards and commissions
- § 411 — Joinder of parties
- § 412 — Documents filed with Commission as public records; prima facie evidence; confidential records
- § 413 — Designation of agent for service; method of service
- § 414 — Exclusiveness of chapter
- § 415 — Limitations of actions
- § 416 — Orders of Commission
- § 501 — General penalty
- § 502 — Violation of rules, regulations, etc.
- § 503 — Forfeitures
- § 504 — Forfeitures
- § 505 — Venue of trials
- § 506 — Repealed. Pub. L. 96–507, § 1 , Dec. 8, 1980 , 94 Stat. 2747
- § 507 — Violation of Great Lakes Agreement
- § 508 — Disclosure of payments to individuals connected with broadcasts
- § 509 — Prohibited practices in contests of knowledge, skill, or chance
- § 51 to 63 — Repealed. Feb. 23, 1927, ch. 169, § 39 , 44 Stat. 1174
- § 510 — Forfeiture of communications devices
- § 511 — Enhanced penalties for pirate radio broadcasting; enforcement sweeps; reporting
- § 521 — Purposes
- § 522 — Definitions
- § 531 — Cable channels for public, educational, or governmental use
- § 532 — Cable channels for commercial use
- § 533 — Ownership restrictions
- § 534 — Carriage of local commercial television signals
- § 535 — Carriage of noncommercial educational television
- § 536 — Regulation of carriage agreements
- § 537 — Sales of cable systems
- § 537a — Carriage of certain programming
- § 541 — General franchise requirements
- § 542 — Franchise fees
- § 543 — Regulation of rates
- § 544 — Regulation of services, facilities, and equipment
- § 544a — Consumer electronics equipment compatibility
- § 545 — Modification of franchise obligations
- § 546 — Renewal
- § 547 — Conditions of sale
- § 548 — Development of competition and diversity in video programming distribution
- § 549 — Competitive availability of navigation devices
- § 551 — Protection of subscriber privacy
- § 552 — Consumer protection and customer service
- § 553 — Unauthorized reception of cable service
- § 554 — Equal employment opportunity
- § 555 — Judicial proceedings
- § 555a — Limitation of franchising authority liability
- § 556 — Coordination of Federal, State, and local authority
- § 557 — Existing franchises
- § 558 — Criminal and civil liability
- § 559 — Obscene programming
- § 560 — Scrambling of cable channels for nonsubscribers
- § 561 — Scrambling of sexually explicit adult video service programming
- § 562 — Requirements relating to charges for covered services
- § 571 — Regulatory treatment of video programming services
- § 572 — Prohibition on buy outs
- § 573 — Establishment of open video systems
- § 601 — Interstate Commerce Commission and Postmaster General; duties, powers, and functions transferred to Commission
- § 602, 603 — Repealed. Pub. L. 103–414, title III, § 304(a)(13) , Oct. 25, 1994 , 108 Stat. 4297
- § 604 — Effect of transfer
- § 605 — Unauthorized publication or use of communications
- § 606 — War powers of President
- § 607 — Effective date of chapter
- § 608 — Separability
- § 609 — Short title
- § 610 — Telephone service for disabled
- § 611 — Closed-captioning of public service announcements
- § 612 — Syndicated exclusivity
- § 613 — Video programming accessibility
- § 614 — Telecommunications Development Fund
- § 615 — Support for universal emergency telephone number
- § 615a — Service provider parity of protection
- § 615a–1 — Duty to provide 9–1–1 and enhanced 9–1–1 service
- § 615b — Definitions
- § 615c — Emergency Access Advisory Committee
- § 616 — Internet protocol-based relay services
- § 617 — Access to advanced communications services and equipment
- § 618 — Enforcement and recordkeeping obligations
- § 619 — Internet browsers built into telephones used with public mobile services
- § 620 — Relay services for deaf-blind individuals
- § 621 — Rulemaking on loud commercials required
- § 622 — Optional electronic labeling of communications equipment
- § 623 — Configuration of multi-line telephone systems for direct dialing of 9–1–1.
- § 624 — Disclosure requirements for United States-based foreign media outlets
- § 641 — Definitions
- § 642 — Broadband maps
- § 643 — Enforcement
- § 644 — Improving data accuracy
- § 645 — Cost
- § 646 — Other provisions
- § 7 — Omitted
- § 701 — Omitted
- § 702 — Definitions
- § 703 — Repealed. Pub. L. 115–141, div. P, title IV, § 402(b) , Mar. 23, 2018 , 132 Stat. 1089
- § 721 — Implementation of policy
- § 731 to 735 — Omitted
- § 741 to 744 — Omitted
- § 751, 752 — Omitted
- § 753 — Implementation of policy
- § 754 to 756 — Repealed. Pub. L. 103–414, title III, § 304(b)(5) , Oct. 25, 1994 , 108 Stat. 4298
- § 757 — Definitions
- § 761 — Federal Communications Commission licensing
- § 761a — Incentives; limitation on expansion pending privatization
- § 763 — General criteria to ensure a pro-competitive privatization of INTELSAT and Inmarsat
- § 763a — Specific criteria for INTELSAT
- § 763b — Repealed. Pub. L. 109–34, § 2 , July 12, 2005 , 119 Stat. 377
- § 763c — Space segment capacity of the GMDSS
- § 763d — Encouraging market access and privatization
- § 765 — Access to INTELSAT
- § 765a — Signatory role
- § 765b — Elimination of procurement preferences