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The Cyber 90s

The 1990s marked a period of change for the communications industry. The invention of the World Wide Web and the growth of the Internet created new opportunities for consumers and creators alike. The World Wide Web Consortium has developed a Timeline for the Internet. The decade continued toward greater deregulation with the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which reversed many of the remaining consumer-oriented rules and regulations not undone during the 1980s. The Museum of Broadcast Communication provides an extensive overview of the 1996 Act. Media ownership became an important issue as broadcast ownership consolidated during this period. Writing in Washington Monthly, media mogul Ted Turner tells why he has some concerns .

Deregulation did not seem to apply to content of programming restriction. Early in the 1990s, the FCC began enforcing indecency regulations against Howard Stern and others. The FCC adopted stricter mandates for children's television and broadcasters adopted a voluntary ratings code for programming so consumers could use the code to evaluate the suitability of programs for children.

These two BBC links recount the end of the Cold War, the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall. The events mark an end of hostilities with the former Soviet Union. However, the calm was broken when Iraq invaded Kuwait and prompted the Gulf War. This Frontline link provides a good overview of the crisis and the war stories. American press coverage was severely limited by the military, and the American public was left watching daily briefings.

While the press may have been subdued by military censors during the Gulf War, it showed no restraint in covering the O.J. Simpson trials (link from the University of Missouri Law School), the death of Princess Diana (from CNN Interactive) and the Bill Clinton - Monica Lewinsky scandal (from the BBC).

“Digital” became an important word in the 1990s. HDTV, which had been discussed conceptually during the 1980s, was adopted by the FCC although it would be another 8 years before real consumer demand for HD sets would materialize. Visit How Things Work to understand how HDTV differs from analog TV). During the 1990s, three direct broadcast satellites services competed for viewers; service expanded rapidly. And, during the first six months of 1996, Internet usage rose by 50%.

Prime time television consisted of some mega-hits including ER (from NBC.com), Murder, She Wrote (link from TV.com), Seinfeld (from Sonypictures.com), Law and Order (from NBC.com), Friends (link from Friends-TV.org), Home Improvement (link from TV.com), and Frasier (from TV.com). Despite the popularity of these shows, viewership of the broadcast networks continued to decline over the decade as more and more people found alternatives on cable. As the decade wound down, broadcasters countered the audience slide by introducing new reality-based programming such as “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” (aired on ABC). Meanwhile, in daytime talk shows ran the gamut from Jerry Springer to Rosie O’Donnell to Oprah Winfrey, and court TV continued to be popular fare. As the millennium ended, people worried about computers failing (the Y2K phenomenon) and looked forward to a celebration for a new century.