Pike & Fischer Communications Regulation

Communications Regulation

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About this Website

Communications Regulation web edition offers complete and comprehensive coverage of communications law and regulation - updated daily. Print and CD-Rom editions of this product are also available. For more than 40 years, Pike & Fischer's Communications Regulation has been the tool of choice for lawyers and industry professionals needing access to FCC rules, commission and court decisions, and the laws that govern U.S. communications. This site is maintained and updated by a senior legal team of FCC law and policy experts, with decades of experience in communications law. The site is updated daily as notices and opinions are issued and rules are adopted or revised. This website was developed and is maintained via our partnership with Contegra Systems, Inc. (www.contegrasystems.com) Communications Regulation is used every day by:
Lawyers Regulators Academics and law students	Communications professionals Industry associations Engineers
More about our clients »

Content & Coverage

Communications Regulation includes the following information.

	FCC Rules The full text of current FCC rules and regulations as codified in Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations and commonly used engineering bulletins issued by the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology (OET Bulletins). Includes historical notes outlining administrative history. Updated daily.
	Cases The full text of all orders released by FCC (by the full Commission and its Bureaus) as well as selected communications-related decisions issued by federal courts (including the U.S. Supreme Court). The material in Cases dates from 1964 to the present and is updated daily.
	Case Digests Pike & Fischer's exclusive summaries of the holdings, or actions taken, in FCC orders and court decisions. Digests simplify research by allowing the researcher to review quickly all of the FCC and the court decisions that address a particular topic, such as a particular FCC rule, a section of a federal statute, or a general point of communications law.
	NPRMs & NOIs The full text of Notices of Proposed Rulemaking, Notices of Inquiry, and Requests for Comment released by the FCC since 1964.
	Statutes The full text of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (including the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and its legislative history), other communications-related federal laws and presidential documents, and select non-FCC regulations.
	Pike & Fischer News & Analysis The full text of all Pike & Fischer news and analysis articles about current developments and rule changes in the communications industry as written by P&F legal editors and experts from The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. since 1994. Includes the full text of all articles published in P&F's Telecom Law Report.
	FCC Record PDFs of all documents as they appear in the official FCC Record -- including formal FCC Record citations and page numbers. New PDFs are added to the collection monthly. When complete, the archive will include all FCC Record PDFs from 1986 forward.
	FCC Phone Directory Communications Regulation offers the ability to locate personnel at the Federal Communications Commission by allowing you to search the directory on the FCC's website.
	Today's FCC Daily Digest The full text of the current edition of the FCC Daily Digest, as posted on the FCC website.
	Newsletter Archive Back issues of Pike & Fischer's Telecom Law Report in PDF format from 2000 forward. Updated monthly.

Searching

	Quick Search Use this tool to quickly search across the entire Communications Regulation collection by keyword or phrase. Quick Search will find your search term as it appears in any part of any document in the collection.
	Advanced Search Use this powerful tool to search across the entire Communications Regulation archive or to narrow your search to include only those types of documents relevant to your research. This tool allows you to search the full text of documents or to focus your searching on specific fields, such as Citation, Docket Number or Date.
	Search Templates - Use these content-specific search templates to narrow your search efforts to a specific document type, such as FCC Rules or the FCC Record.
	Search Within These Results Use this feature from Results List or Expanded View to narrow your search results. To search within a subset of your results, check the boxes next to only those documents you would like to search. Then click the Selected Documents radio button before running your search. When using Advanced Search, this tool also allows you to further narrow your search by document type.
	Search Within This Document When in View Full Text mode, use this feature to hone in on a specific word or phrase within the document you are viewing. Your new search terms will be highlighted.
	Modify Search From any browse format, use this feature to change your original search parameters.

Using Connectors

The Basics
Searches may consist of a group of words or phrases linked by connectors such as and and or that indicate the relationship between them.

Examples:	apple and pear	« Both words must be present
	apple or pear	« Either word can be present
	apple w/5 pear	« Apple must occur within 5 words of pear
	apple not w/5 pear	« Apple must not occur within 5 words of pear
	apple and not pear	« Only apple must be present

If using more than one connector, use parentheses to indicate precisely what you want to search for. For example, apple and pear or orange could mean (apple and pear) or orange, or it could mean apple and (pear or orange). Noise words, such as if and the, are ignored in searches.

AND Connector
Use the AND connector to connect two expressions, both of which must be found in any document retrieved. For example:

apple pie and poached pear would retrieve any document that contained both phrases.

(apple or banana) and (pear w/5 grape) would retrieve any document that (1) contained either apple OR banana, AND (2) contained pear within 5 words of grape.

OR Connector
Use the OR connector to connect two expressions, at least one of which must be found in any document retrieved. For example:

apple pie or poached pear would retrieve any document that contained apple pie, poached pear, or both.

W/N Connector
Use the W/N connector to specify that one word or phrase must occur within N words of the other. For example, apple w/5 pear would retrieve any document that contained apple within 5 words of pear. Here are more examples:

(apple or pear) w/5 banana

(apple w/5 banana) w/10 pear

NOT and NOT W/N
Use NOT in front of any search expression to reverse its meaning. This allows you to exclude documents from a search. Example:

apple and not pear

NOT standing alone can be the start of a search request. For example, not pear would retrieve all documents that did not contain pear.

The NOT W/ ("not within") operator allows you to search for a word or phrase not in association with another word or phrase. Example:

apple not w/20 pear

Using Wildcards ( * and ?)
A search word can contain the wildcard characters * and ?. A ? in a word matches any single character, and a * matches any number of characters. The wildcard characters can be in any position in a word.

Examples:	appl*	« would match apple, application, etc.
	cipl	« would match principle, participle, etc.
	appl?	« would match apply and apple but not apples
	apple not w/5 pear	« Apple must not occur within 5 words of pear
	ap*ed	« would match applied, approved, etc

Note that use of the * wildcard character near the beginning of a word may slow search performance.

Using Stemming
You may use the ~ character to extend or stem your search to cover grammatical variations on a word.

Examples:		test~	« would also find testing
		apply~	« would also find applying, applies, and apply

Browsing

There are four ways to browse search results. Move from one browse mode to another by clicking on the appropriate links.

	Results List Displays your documents in a list. Basic information for each document is provided -- such as Title, Date, Document Number, Docket Number and Score. Information displayed will vary based upon the content searched. From this view you may Sort results by clicking on the or links. You may also view the full text of any document by clicking on View Full Text or refine your search further using the Search Within These Results feature.
	Expanded View Displays your documents in an expanded list, with each of the first 5 instances of your search term surrounded by a small amount of text. Use this view to quickly determine whether your results are applicable to your research topic. From here you can Sort results by using the or links. You may also view the full text of any document by clicking on View Full Text or refine your search further using the Search Within These Results feature.
	Full Document View Displays your document in full text in a separate window. From here you may search within the document, email the document to a colleague or view your search terms.
	View Search Terms Displays your document in a modified full text view - with 500 words around each highlighted search term.

Printing & Downloading

	Printing Your Results You may print the results of your research at any time by first clicking on the Printer Format button. This feature, which is available from all Browsing formats listed above, removes unnecessary navigation bars and graphics from your screen. You may then user your browser's print tools to print your results.
	Printing PDFs To print the full text of FCC Record documents or back issues of our Newsletter -- both of which are available in Adobe Acrobat PDF, click the printer icon located in the Adobe Acrobat toolbar while viewing the full text of the PDF.
	Printing Online Guides The Site Map and Help Page on this site can be printed and used as handy desktop reference tools. To do so, first click the Printer Format button to eliminate unnecessary navigation bars and graphics.
	Downloading To save a document to your computer, click Printer Format, then File, then Save As. You may then name the file and select where to save it to your local computer.
	Determining Number of Printed Pages To determine the length of a particular document prior to emailing or printing same, click Printer Format, then File, then Print Preview. The page count in the upper left hand corner of the browser window will indicate the number of pages in the document.

Email to a Colleague

To email a list of documents to a colleague or client, click the checkboxes next to the documents you want to deliver. Then, click on the Email to a Colleague link. To email the full text of a document, click Email a Colleague from View Full Text mode. Complete the address and personal message form and click Send. Learn more »

Frequently Asked Questions

	Q: My organization would like to try Communications Regulation web edition before deciding to subscribe. Do you offer free trials? A: Trials are available to qualifying corporations, law firms, law school libraries, law professors and other professional organizations. You may request a trial by completing our Request a Trial form.
	Q: What are case digests? A: Case digests are Pike & Fischer's exclusive summaries of the holdings, or actions taken, in FCC orders and court decisions. Digests simplify research by allowing the researcher to review quickly all of the FCC and court decisions that address a particular topic, such as a particular FCC rule, a section of a federal statute, or a general point of communications law. Search case digests »
	Q: I've forgotten my password. Can you remind me what it is? A: Yes. Simply use the Forgot your password feature on the Log In screen. We'll send you a password reminder via email.
	Q: How often is this site updated? A: Communications Regulation web edition is updated each business day as activity occurs.
	Q: My organization is interested in multi-seat, enterprise wide or campus wide access. Do you offer those options? A: Yes, many organizations are currently enjoying the benefits of these options. Email Customer Care or call us at 1-800-255-8131 x237 to learn more.
	Q: We have a 5-seat site license. Can we access this site from more than one location? A: Absolutely. A multi-seat license covers a set number of simultaneous users. You may therefore have 5 users logged onto Communications Regulation at once, regardless of location.
	Q: Why do I need Communications Regulation if I have Westlaw or LexisNexis? A: Communications Regulation offers everything you need in one place to conduct thorough research into communications-related issues. Our service is focused exclusively on communications materials - allowing you to spend more time analyzing the information you need and less time trying to find it! Our flat rate, unlimited use pricing plans are also very cost effective.

Ask The Editor

Do you have a question about this product or a suggestion about how we can make it better? Contact Robert Emeritz, Senior Director of Legal & Regulatory Products, via email or phone at 1-800-255-8131, x 258. Or, use the Your Opinion Counts! tool to send us instant feedback.