Clinton signs the Telecommunications Act of 1996, enabling broadcast consolidation

President Bill Clinton signs the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the first comprehensive overhaul of communications law since 1934. The law eliminates national caps on how many broadcast stations a single company can own and relaxes local ownership limits, enabling a wave of media consolidation. Disney acquires ABC in 1995 as part of the pre-consolidation rush; the Telecom Act deepens that trend. The law preserves FCC licensing authority over broadcasters while deregulating ownership structures. Within a decade, a handful of large corporations own most major television stations — concentrating the targets of any future government licensing pressure into fewer, larger corporate hands.