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 STATEMENT  OF  COMMISSIONER  MICHAEL  J.  COPPS 
 Re:  Childrens  Television  Obligations  of  Digital  Television  Broadcasters 
 In  the  Childrens  Television  Act,  Congress  directed  the  Commission  to  protect  children  against  excessive  advertisements  on  television  and  required  the  Commission  to  consider  during  the  license 
 renewal  process  whether  a  stations  programming  has  served  the  educational  and  informational  needs  of  children.  This  is  absolutely  vital.  Television  plays  such  an  enormous  role  in  childrens  development. 
 The  average  child  will  have  watched  well  over  10,000  hours  of  television  and  been  bombarded  with  hundreds  of  thousands  of  commercials  before  he  or  she  reaches  adulthood.  Television  has  vast  and 
 growing  powers  to  educate  and  inform    or  to  misinform  in  sometimes  harmful  ways. 
 One  important  responsibility  that  we  on  this  Commission  have  is  to  make  sure,  as  best  we  can,  that  everyone    certainly  including  the  kids  can  harvest  the  full  benefits  of  digital  television.  I 
 commend  those  who  met  to  formulate  the  proposals  that  are  the  subject  of  todays  further  notice.  Groups  such  as  Children  Now,  the  American  Psychological  Association,  the  American  Academy  of  Pediatrics, 
 the  National  PTA,  the  United  Church  of  Christ,  the  Action  Coalition  for  Media  Education  and  the  Institute  for  Public  Representation  at  Georgetown  University,  as  well  as  representatives  from  broadcast 
 networks  and  cable  channels,  worked  long  and  hard  to  reach  these  joint  recommendations. 
 The  ball  is  in  our  court  now  to  move  forward  as  expeditiously  as  possible  to  complete  this  proceeding.  I  am  hopeful  we  will  do  just  that.  But  thats  not  all  we  need  to  do.  Lets  remember  that,  in 
 the  childrens  TV  order  adopted  in  September  2004,  we  also  committed  to  issuing  a  report  addressing  how  well  the  objectives  set  by  Congress  in  the  Childrens  Television  Act  are  being  met.  We  should  all  be 
 concerned  even  disturbed  when  independent  reports  find  that  one-  fourth  of  the  educational  and  informational  programming  served  up  to  our  children  has  little  educational  value.  Likewise,  we  should 
 all  be  concerned  when  a  recent  study  by  the  Parents  Television  Council  demonstrates  that  there  are  nearly  eight  violent  incidents  per  hour  on  childrens  shows    more  than  during  primetime.  Think  about  that  one 
 for  a  moment! 
 Once  again,  I  point  out  how  much  work  is  left  undone  regarding  the  more  general  public  interest  obligations  of  DTV  broadcasters.  As  an  initial  step,  we  need  promptly  to  complete  our  proceeding  on 
 disclosure  of  broadcaster  activities.  And  the  Commission  is  long  overdue  to  address  the  full  range  of  public  interest  issues  that  we  teed  up  six  years  ago,  including,  among  others,  how  the  digital  transition  can 
 enhance  political  discourse,  improve  access  to  the  media  for  those  with  disabilities,  and  increase  localism,  diversity  and  competition  on  the  peoples  airwaves.  I  would  like  to  think  that  this  example  of  discussions 
 and  a  joint  proposal  by  diverse  interested  parties  that  we  are  talking  about  today  in  the  childrens  television  item  can  serve  as  a  model  for  these  other  proceedings.  We  really  cant  delay  any  longer  in 
 bringing  some  certainty  for  both  broadcasters  and  the  public.  It  is  not  enough  for  us  to  address  only  the  mechanics  of  the  DTV  transition.  More  important  by  far  is  determining  how  this  transition  is  to  serve  the 
 broad  interests  of  American  viewers  and  listeners.  With  a  full  complement  of  Commissioners  soon  to  be  aboard,  these  questions  deserve  the  full  attention  of  the  Commission. 
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