(a) FINDINGS- The Congress makes the following findings:
- Television influences children’s perception of the values and behavior that are common and acceptable in society.
- Television station operators, cable television system operators, and video programmers should follow practices in connection with video programming that take into consideration that television broadcast and cable programming has established a uniquely pervasive presence in the lives of American children.
- The average American child is exposed to 25 hours of television each week and some children are exposed to as much as 11 hours of television a day.
- Studies have shown that children exposed to violent video programming at a young age have a higher tendency for violent and aggressive behavior later in life than children not so exposed, and that children exposed to violent video programming are prone to assume that acts of violence are acceptable behavior.
- Children in the United States are, on average, exposed to an estimated 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence on television by the time the child completes elementary school.
- Studies indicate that children are affected by the pervasiveness and casual treatment of sexual material on television, eroding the ability of parents to develop responsible attitudes and behavior in their children.
- Parents express grave concern over violent and sexual video programming and strongly support technology that would give them greater control to block video programming in the home that they consider harmful to their children.
- There is a compelling governmental interest in empowering parents to limit the negative influences of video programming that is harmful to children.
- Providing parents with timely information about the nature of upcoming video programming and with the technological tools that allow them easily to block violent, sexual, or other programming that they believe harmful to their children is a nonintrusive and narrowly tailored means of achieving that compelling governmental interest.
(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF TELEVISION RATING CODE-
- AMENDMENT- Section 303 (47 U.S.C. 303) is amended by adding at the end the following: `(w) Prescribe– `(1) on the basis of recommendations from an advisory committee established by the Commission in accordance with section 551(b) (2) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, guidelines and recommended procedures for the identification and rating of video programming that contains sexual, violent, or other indecent material about which parents should be informed before it is displayed to children: Provided, That nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to authorize any rating of video programming on the basis of its political or religious content; and `(2) with respect to any video programming that has been rated, and in consultation with the television industry, rules requiring distributors of such video programming to transmit such rating to permit parents to block the display of video programming that they have determined is inappropriate for their children.’.
- ADVISORY COMMITTEE REQUIREMENTS- In establishing an advisory committee for purposes of the amendment made by paragraph (1) of this subsection, the Commission shall–
(A) ensure that such committee is composed of parents, television broadcasters, television programming producers, cable operators, appropriate public interest groups, and other interested individuals from the private sector and is fairly balanced in terms of political affiliation, the points of view represented, and the functions to be performed by the committee;
(B) provide to the committee such staff and resources as may be necessary to permit it to perform its functions efficiently and promptly; and
(C) require the committee to submit a final report of its recommendations within one year after the date of the appointment of the initial members.
(c) REQUIREMENT FOR MANUFACTURE OF TELEVISIONS THAT BLOCK PROGRAMS- Section 303 (47 U.S.C. 303), as amended by subsection (a), is further amended by adding at the end the following: `(x) Require, in the case of an apparatus designed to receive television signals that are shipped in interstate commerce or manufactured in the United States and that have a picture screen 13 inches or greater in size (measured diagonally), that such apparatus be equipped with a feature designed to enable viewers to block display of all programs with a common rating, except as otherwise permitted by regulations pursuant to section 330(c)(4).’.
(d) SHIPPING OF TELEVISIONS THAT BLOCK PROGRAMS-
- REGULATIONS- Section 330 (47 U.S.C. 330) is amended–
(A) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d); and
(B) by adding after subsection (b) the following new subsection (c): `(c)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), no person shall ship in interstate commerce or manufacture in the United States any apparatus described in section 303(x) of this Act except in accordance with rules prescribed by the Commission pursuant to the authority granted by that section. `(2) This subsection shall not apply to carriers transporting apparatus referred to in paragraph (1) without trading in it. `(3) The rules prescribed by the Commission under this subsection shall provide for the oversight by the Commission of the adoption of standards by industry for blocking technology. Such rules shall require that all such apparatus be able to receive the rating signals which have been transmitted by way of line 21 of the vertical blanking interval and which conform to the signal and blocking specifications established by industry under the supervision of the Commission. `(4) As new video technology is developed, the Commission shall take such action as the Commission determines appropriate to ensure that blocking service continues to be available to consumers. If the Commission determines that an alternative blocking technology exists that– `(A) enables parents to block programming based on identifying programs without ratings, `(B) is available to consumers at a cost which is comparable to the cost of technology that allows parents to block programming based on common ratings, and `(C) will allow parents to block a broad range of programs on a multichannel system as effectively and as easily as technology that allows parents to block programming based on common ratings, the Commission shall amend the rules prescribed pursuant to section 303(x) to require that the apparatus described in such section be equipped with either the blocking technology described in such section or the alternative blocking technology described in this paragraph.’. - CONFORMING AMENDMENT- Section 330(d), as redesignated by subsection (d)(1)(A), is amended by striking `section 303(s), and section 303(u)’ and inserting in lieu thereof `and sections 303(s), 303(u), and 303(x)’. (e) APPLICABILITY AND EFFECTIVE DATES- (1) APPLICABILITY OF RATING PROVISION- The amendment made by subsection (b) of this section shall take effect 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, but only if the Commission determines, in consultation with appropriate public interest groups and interested individuals from the private sector, that distributors of video programming have not, by such date– (A) established voluntary rules for rating video programming that contains sexual, violent, or other indecent material about which parents should be informed before it is displayed to children, and such rules are acceptable to the Commission; and (B) agreed voluntarily to broadcast signals that contain ratings of such programming. (2) EFFECTIVE DATE OF MANUFACTURING PROVISION- In prescribing regulations to implement the amendment made by subsection (c), the Federal Communications Commission shall, after consultation with the television manufacturing industry, specify the effective date for the applicability of the requirement to the apparatus covered by such amendment, which date shall not be less than two years after the date of enactment of this Act.
FCC web site for their comments on the 1996 Telecommunications Law.