ger grant rights to Netflix for streaming its content. In response to the challenges of obtaining rights to content and its rising costs, Netflix announced in 2011 that it acquired the rights to and would produce and distribute its own miniseries, House of Cards, based on a book and a BBC miniseries. APPENDIX Table 3-11 Regulatory Highlights Landmark Acts and Court Rulings Summary of Acts and Rulings The Federal Communica- Congress created the FCC and gave it the authority tions Act of 1934 to regulate interstate telephone, radio, and telegraph companies. The 1956 Consent Decree The Justice Department allowed AT&T to keep its monopoly but restricted it to common carrier func- tions. The Consent Decree mandated that any patents developed by Bell Labs, then AT&T, be licensed to all applicants requesting them. This led to the availabil- ity of-among many other things-microwave tech- nology to MCI and the ability of competitive carriers to build fiber-optic-based long-distance networks. Competition, Industry Structures, and Regulations Table 3-11 (Continued) Landmark Acts and Court Rulings Summary of Acts and Rulings The 1969 MCI Case The Federal Communications Commission ruled that MCI, then known as Microwave Communica- tions, Inc., could connect its equipment to the public network provided that the network was not harmed. This decision opened the competitive premises equip- ment (CPE) market to AT&T rivals such as Northern Telecom and Executone. Prior to this, only AT&T was allowed to provide telephones for connection to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). The 1982 to 1983 The Justice Department, in agreement with AT&T Modified Final Judgment and with approval by Judge Harold H. Greene, agreed to a settlement that Divested the then 22 Bell Operating Companies (BOCs) from AT&T Prohibited BOCs from inter-LATA long dis- tance, sale of CPE, and manufacturing Mandated that the local exchange companies provide equal access (dial 1) from end users to all interexchange carriers The 1984 Divestiture The terms spe