Abstract
This paper argues that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has outlived the economic and technological conditions that justified its creation. The monopolistic telephone and spectrum scarcity environments of 1934 have been replaced by dynamic, intermodal competition across broadband, wireless, and satellite platforms, eroding the rationale for common carrier and broadcasting regulation. As its original mission has faded, the FCC has become increasingly politicized, aligning with shifting partisan agendas rather than exercising independent expertise. The paper reviews the historical foundations of commission regulation, the evolution of communications markets, and the decline of FCC independence, and proposes reallocating the agency’s essential functions while disbanding the Commission itself.