The Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the Federal Communications Commission's Local Competition Order are just two examples of the continuing monumental and far-reaching changes occurring throughout the telecommunications industry. At the 1996 Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (TPRC) -- an annual forum for dialogue among scholars and the policymaking community on a wide range of telecommunications issues -- leading industry and academic researchers presented results of their research and insights in key areas of activity, including:
*interconnection and competition;
*Internet growth and commerce;
*Internet regulation and control; and
*the political economy of telecommunications regulation.
The best of the 1996 TPRC papers are included here, representing the forefront of research in the telecommunications industry. The third in an annual LEA series of volumes based on this important conference, this collection reflects the rapid economic, technological, and social development of telecommunications. It also reflects the current state of research thinking on this issue and provides a foundation for further telecommunications policy analysis.

Commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (TPRC), this volume begins with a historical survey of a quarter-century of TPRC meetings as one measure of change in and research about the telecommunications industry. Additional papers reflecting the ongoing pace of change in technological, economic, and policy issues are organized around four topics:
* economic analysis of local and international telephone policy;
* media industry studies including video competition, guidelines for children's educational television, and the setting of AM stereo standards;
* applications and policy regarding the Internet; and
* comparative studies in telephone and satellite policy.
Collectively, the contents of this volume assess key issues for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners. Research reported in this volume illustrates the continually expanding scope of scholarly concerns about the telecommunications and information industry and contributes to further policy research and analysis.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the Federal Communications Commission's Local Competition Order are just two examples of the continuing monumental and far-reaching changes occurring throughout the telecommunications industry. At the 1996 Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (TPRC) -- an annual forum for dialogue among scholars and the policymaking community on a wide range of telecommunications issues -- leading industry and academic researchers presented results of their research and insights in key areas of activity, including:
*interconnection and competition;
*Internet growth and commerce;
*Internet regulation and control; and
*the political economy of telecommunications regulation.
The best of the 1996 TPRC papers are included here, representing the forefront of research in the telecommunications industry. The third in an annual LEA series of volumes based on this important conference, this collection reflects the rapid economic, technological, and social development of telecommunications. It also reflects the current state of research thinking on this issue and provides a foundation for further telecommunications policy analysis.

Out-of-control costs. Box office bombs that should have been foreseen. A mania for sequels at the expense of innovation. Blockbusters of ever-diminishing merit. What other industry could continue like this--and succeed as spectacularly as Hollywood has? The American movie industry's extraordinary success at home and abroad--in the face of dire threats from broadcast television and a wealth of other entertainment media that have followed--is David Waterman's focus in this book, the first full-length economic study of the movie industry in over forty years.

Combining historical and economic analysis, "Hollywood's Road to Riches" shows how, beginning in the 1950s, a largely predictable business has been transformed into a volatile and complex multimedia enterprise now commanding over 80 percent of the world's film business. At the same time, the book asks how the economic forces leading to this success--the forces of audience demand, technology, and high risk--have combined to change the kinds of movies Hollywood produces.

Waterman argues that the movie studios have multiplied their revenues by effectively using pay television and home video media to extract the maximum amounts that individual consumers are willing to pay to watch the same movies in different venues. Along the way, the Hollywood studios have masterfully handled piracy and other economic challenges to the multimedia system they use to distribute movies.

The author also looks ahead to what Internet file sharing and digital production and distribution technologies might mean for Hollywood's prosperity, as well as for the quality and variety of the movies it makes.

Commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (TPRC), this volume begins with a historical survey of a quarter-century of TPRC meetings as one measure of change in and research about the telecommunications industry. Additional papers reflecting the ongoing pace of change in technological, economic, and policy issues are organized around four topics:
* economic analysis of local and international telephone policy;
* media industry studies including video competition, guidelines for children's educational television, and the setting of AM stereo standards;
* applications and policy regarding the Internet; and
* comparative studies in telephone and satellite policy.
Collectively, the contents of this volume assess key issues for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners. Research reported in this volume illustrates the continually expanding scope of scholarly concerns about the telecommunications and information industry and contributes to further policy research and analysis.