Technologie i telekomunikacja · 15.03.1996

Preemption of Local Zoning Regulations

The Commission has proposed revisions to its rule preempting certain local regulation of satellite earth stations. These revisions are being proposed in response section 207 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. That section directs the Commission to preempt nonfederal restrictions on certain direct-to-home video services, including Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) service. In our Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in IB Docket No. 95-59, we tentatively conclude that the final rule adopted in the Report and Order fulfills the Commission's obligation under the new statutory provision as to nonfederal, governmental restrictions on DBS-type satellite earth station antennas, but askfor comment on this issue. Further, we tentatively conclude that section 207 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires us to promulgate a new rule prohibiting enforcement of nongovernmental restrictions on small-antenna video reception. We therefore propose to add a new paragraph to our preemption rule in order to implement section 207 with regard to private, nongovernmental restrictions on DBS-type satellite earth station antennas. The proposed rule closely tracks the language