ABSTRACT
The First Amendment seemed to work well for more than a hundred years. But beginning in the early 1900s, advances in technology, along with two World Wars and the growth of communism in other countries, provided a number of challenges to the notions of free speech and free press. As part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 restrictions on the number of radio and television stations that may be owned by one company or individual were loosened, which allowed media companies to acquire more networks and local stations, including many that served the same markets. Consumer advocates worried that such changes would result in less diversity of opinions in news and public affairs programming and the potential for media companies to exert more political influence without having that influence challenged by competitors. In 1984, as cable television became a dominant form of home entertainment, Congress passed the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, today referred to as "the Cable Act".
