Statement of Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein

Before the Children NOW Digital TV Conference

June 9, 2004

Washington, D.C.

Thank you, Patti.

Think about it. Parents wouldn't let their children wander by themselves
through a neighborhood they don't know. But many parents let their kids
do just that with their minds through TV. A third of children under six
have a TV in their bedroom. And, as Children NOW reported, by the first
grade, most children will have spent the equivalent of three school
years in front of the TV.

Among other dangers, it turns out these neighborhoods are filled with
slick storekeepers trying to lure kids in to buy candy, junk food and
violent games. Not every street is Sesame Street. Clearly, some people
in the neighborhood don't have your kids' best interests in mind.

The FCC's job is to make sure TV has safe places for children -- and
that parents know how to keep their kids out of the dangerous places \--
and out of candy stores.

Parents, be warned: the cops on the beat aren't on top of the new
developments in the neighborhood. The FCC is long overdue in defining
the public interest obligations on broadcasters in the digital age. Just
this morning, Congress held another hearing on how to
[complete]{.underline} the digital transition -- but we still haven't
figured out the ground rules for kids!

Most parents naturally question what their kids are watching. There are
some great programs on TV, and studies show that true educational TV can
help young children's development.

So let's make sure that tomorrow's digital television has more safe
neighborhoods to wander in. Let's insist on more informative,
educational, healthy choices for our children.

Broadcasters are the landlords of the television landscape. But the FCC
is supposed to protect the public against the natural tendencies of
corporations to seek out the bottom-line above all else. We have two
principal ways of doing that. First, we have protections against media
concentration, but most of them were gutted last summer. Second, we have
public interest obligations.

Broadcasters' bargain with the government is that in exchange for free
use of the public airwaves, they are supposed to serve the public
interest. They are supposed to be good neighbors. To this day, many do
it remarkably well. Many take pride in their local communities and their
stewardship of the airwaves.

But the FCC provides very little assurance that all broadcasters will do
so. It has so weakened the specific public interest obligations that
broadcasters don't have much left to prove.

It's time to restore these public interest obligations for the new era
of interactive, digital TV.

Digital TV promises to enhance the TV world for everyone, including
children. Broadcasters can turn today's single analog channel into 5 or
6 channels. This makes room for more programs to educate, inform, and
inspire our nation's children. And, as Senator Brownback said this
morning, datacasting can give parents real-time ratings and content
information so they know what their kids are getting -- and can keep
them out of the candy store if they want.

Broadcasters should use this capability to expand the diversity and
quality of programming. They should use this opportunity to empower
parents.

Interactivity can be both a positive and a negative for our children. We
know that advertisers will exploit the opportunities and our children's
vulnerabilities. But it also offers great potential to further learning
and development. Broadcasters should understand the social
responsibilities that come with interactivity targeted at children. And
we on the FCC need to get the right protections in place before it's too
late.

I firmly believe that new horizons in broadcasting should correspond to
new horizons in serving the public interest. So we at the FCC must do
our part. The FCC must urgently define the new rules for the digital
era, and that includes children's television.

Six years ago, some broadcasters recognized that to the extent that
multicasting expands broadcasting opportunities, the public interest
obligations should also expand. It is time the FCC adopts that basic
principle. We can't afford to wait any longer. How many more stations
will begin multicasting before they understand the rules of the road?
We're spending more time figuring out the [end]{.underline} of the
digital television transition when we haven't even completed its
beginning.

We started a proceeding on children's obligations nearly four years ago.
We need to complete it right away. Many issues involving children's TV
involve the complex relationships between electronic media and a child's
cognitive, social, emotional and physical development. Much more
research needs to be done on how interactivity affects the balance. I
applaud Senators Brownback, Lieberman and Clinton for their legislation
to do that. Compared to the complexity of those issues, defining public
interest obligations should be easy.

Many organizations here today came together through the Children's Media
Policy Coalition to promote two alternative approaches to help meet
children's educational needs. They said broadcasters should dedicate 3
hours per week on main channels, with additional obligations on other
channels, or 3 percent of broadcast time, to educational and
informational programming. The Coalition also suggested important ways
to avoid excessive commercialization and to give parents tools to help
their children make appropriate viewing choices. The Benton Foundation
found that the vast bulk of Americans agree. So, with that strong
support, it's hard to understand why is this still lingering at the FCC.

With some hard work, I\'m confident we can provide more safe places for
our children to experience on TV.

It\'s about time we started. We can't let our children venture into an
unknown, unprotected digital media environment -- all because the FCC
didn't do its job.

I want to thank Children NOW, as well as the American Academy of
Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association, for convening
this excellent forum and taking the lead on this critical issue.