Editing Common carrier (section)

== Telecommunications ==<!-- This section is linked from [[Telephone numbering in Europe]]. See [[WP:MOS#Section management]] -->

In the United States, [[telecommunications]] carriers are regulated by the [[Federal Communications Commission]] under title II of the [[Communications Act of 1934]].<ref name="washingtonpost.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/06/12/net-neutrality-takes-effect-today-heres-how-it-affects-you/|title=Net neutrality takes effect today. Here's how it affects you.|first=Brian|last=Fung|date=12 June 2015|access-date=27 March 2018|via=www.washingtonpost.com}}</ref>

The [[Telecommunications Act of 1996]] made extensive revisions to the "Title II" provisions regarding common carriers and repealed the judicial 1982 AT&T consent decree (often referred to as the [[Modification of Final Judgment]]) that effectuated the breakup of AT&T's [[Bell System]]. Further, the Act gives telephone companies the option of providing video programming on a common carrier basis or as a conventional cable television operator. If it chooses the former, the telephone company will face less regulation but will also have to comply with FCC regulations requiring what the Act refers to as "open video systems". The Act generally bars, with certain exceptions including most rural areas, acquisitions by telephone companies of more than a 10 percent interest in cable operators (and vice versa) and joint ventures between telephone companies and cable systems serving the same areas.