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29–913 PDF 2006

S. PRT. 109–67

TELEVISION BLOCKING TECHNOLOGY

BRIEFING

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, 

SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION 

UNITED STATES SENATE

ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

JULY 27, 2006

Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

(

(II)

SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION

ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

TED STEVENS, Alaska, Chairman 

JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona 

CONRAD BURNS, Montana 

TRENT LOTT, Mississippi 

KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas 

OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine 

GORDON H. SMITH, Oregon 

JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada 

GEORGE ALLEN, Virginia 

JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire 

JIM DEMINT, South Carolina 

DAVID VITTER, Louisiana 

DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii, Co-Chairman 

JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia 

JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts 

BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota 

BARBARA BOXER, California 

BILL NELSON, Florida 

MARIA CANTWELL, Washington 

FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey 

E. BENJAMIN NELSON, Nebraska 

MARK PRYOR, Arkansas 

LISA J. SUTHERLAND, Republican Staff Director 

CHRISTINE DRAGER KURTH, Republican Deputy Staff Director 

KENNETH R. NAHIGIAN, Republican Chief Counsel 

MARGARET L. CUMMISKY, Democratic Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

SAMUEL E. WHITEHORN, Democratic Deputy Staff Director and General Counsel 

LILA HARPER HELMS, Democratic Policy Director 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

Page 

Briefing held on July 27, 2006 ................................................................................ 1

Statement of Senator Inouye .................................................................................. 7

Statement of Senator Stevens ................................................................................ 1

WITNESSES

Conlon, Peggy, President/CEO, The Advertising Council .................................... 2

Valenti, Jack, Former Chairman/CEO; Senior Consultant, Motion Picture

Association of America, MPAA ........................................................................... 2

(1)

TELEVISION BLOCKING TECHNOLOGY 

THURSDAY, JULY 27, 2006

U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, Washington, DC. 

The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:04 a.m. in room 

SR–253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Ted Stevens,

Chairman of the Committee, presiding. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. TED STEVENS,

U.S. SENATOR FROM ALASKA 

The CHAIRMAN. Let me thank you all for being here today, and 

thank our Co-Chairman, and all the Members of the Committee 

who’ve been involved in this activity with us. Our Committee has 

held one hearing and two forums on the decency issues, and one 

of those forums lasted a full day. 

On June 15th, the President signed into law the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act, which increased tenfold the fines that the 

FCC may impose for indecent broadcasts. That bill was a step forward. However, during this Committee’s daylong summit, it became apparent that increasing the fines is only one piece of the 

puzzle because over-the-air broadcasting is only 15 percent of the 

problem. That is why the family tiers are an important answer, 

and the cable and satellite industries voluntary efforts to offer such 

tiers are to be commended. 

Additionally, Jack Valenti, who is at the witness table now, has 

worked with the Ad Council and various sectors of the industry to 

launch a broad education campaign, which he is here today, along 

with Peggy Conlon, President and CEO of the Ad Council, to 

unveil. 

I understand from Jack, he’s had a series of exposures on various 

channels and spent a great deal of time this week explaining what 

the industry wishes to do, and I again commend Jack and thank 

him for his friendship and for his constant attention to this problem. 

I think his proposal has great merit, and we wish him every success in the world. 

Senator INOUYE. I’d like to join you in commending our friend, 

Jack. Without him, the motion picture industry would be without 

leadership. Welcome back, sir. 

Mr. VALENTI. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Ms. Conlon, we welcome you also. Jack and Ms. 

Conlon, we’re at your call—we’d like to hear what you have to say, 

and I know you’ve got some presentations to make. 

2

STATEMENT OF JACK VALENTI, FORMER CHAIRMAN/CEO; 

SENIOR CONSULTANT, MOTION PICTURE ASSOCIATION OF 

AMERICA, MPAA 

Mr. VALENTI. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Co-Chairman. I 

thank both of you. 

It was on November 29th, if you’ll recall when you had that work 

forum that you and the Co-Chairman wanted to know if the television industry had any ideas about how we could benefit parents 

and allow them to monitor the television viewing of their children. 

Now, what, 7 months later we are here with our plan. 

I want to tell you this is an unprecedented unified effort, and I 

want to just briefly introduce people who really made this thing 

work. 

I first want to introduce Dan Glickman, the President of the Motion Picture Association; David Rehr, the President of the National 

Association of Broadcasters; Kyle McSlarrow, the President of the 

National Cable and Telecommunications Association: and I’d like to 

introduce Gary Shapiro, who is the President of the Consumer 

Electronics Association. 

Mr. SHAPIRO. Thank you. 

Mr. VALENTI. Now, the irony of this, Mr. Chairman, is we all are 

bitter antagonists in the marketplace, but we’ve come together in 

what I think is an epiphany for parents. I’ve been searching for a 

couple of months to use that word epiphany, and I finally found a 

sentence to put it in. I thank you for that. But it is, I think, in the 

long run, this is a beneficent tool that allows parents to monitor 

and to guide and to block programs that they think might not be 

suitable for their younger children. 

Now, I have some other things to say about it, but this would not 

have occurred without the extraordinary partnership of the Ad 

Council, which, for 63 years, as Peggy will no doubt tell you, they 

have been a sustaining influence in this country in helping illuminate great public issues in easy to understand ways so that the 

public is benefited by it. And it was the Ad Council that’s been 

with us every inch of the way, and I dare say, without the four associations and without the Ad Council, I wouldn’t be here today. 

So, Peggy, would you tell us something about the Ad Council? 

STATEMENT OF PEGGY CONLON, PRESIDENT/CEO, THE 

ADVERTISING COUNCIL 

Ms. CONLON. Thank you very much, Jack. 

Good morning. Thank you, Senator Stevens and Inouye for inviting us here today and for your incredible leadership. 

I know we all share the same goal, to help America’s parents 

manage their young children’s television viewing, and I believe this 

morning marks a giant step in achieving that goal. 

I know that many of you are familiar with the Ad Council, but 

I do want to spend a few minutes this morning telling you a bit 

about who we are and what we’ve been able to accomplish over the 

last 63 years. Our campaigns have become part of the American 

culture, and our slogans a part of the vernacular. Not just because 

they’re memorable, but because they make a profoundly positive 

difference in the lives of the American people. 

3

From our earliest days during World War II with campaigns like, 

‘‘Loose Lips, Sink Ships,’’ ‘‘Buy War Bonds,’’ and ‘‘Plant Victory 

Gardens,’’ to countless others that have followed, the Ad Council 

has kept its finger on the pulse of the American society and moved 

the needle on so many critically important issues. 

Thanks to Smokey Bear, Americans know that only they can prevent forest fires, and as a result, we’ve helped to reduce the number of acres lost annually from 22 million to 8.4 million. And because we’ve taught the Nation that ‘‘Friends Don’t Let Friends 

Drive Drunk,’’ almost 70 percent of Americans have acted to prevent a friend from driving drunk. And for almost 35 years, we’ve 

reminded Americans that ‘‘A mind is a terrible thing to waste.’’ As 

a result, the United Negro College Fund has raised more than $2.2 

billion, and graduated more than 350,000 deserving minority students from college. 

Clearly, Ad Council campaigns have raised awareness, saved 

lives, and inspired countless Americans to take positive action. And 

today, I’m delighted to help introduce a wonderful new effort that 

will not only inform parents about how they can monitor and supervise their children’s media consumption, but also inspire them 

to do so. 

Studies show that children spend almost 45 hours per week exposed to media, usually including more than one form at a time, 

and that parents have serious concerns about age-inappropriate TV 

content. They say that they’re in control of their children’s viewing 

habits, but day-to-day, they’re not as vigilant as they would like to 

be. Despite their general lack of awareness about blocking technologies, many parents are open to ideas that promise more control 

and agree that these technologies can be an effective tool. 

So in an effort to empower these parents to take a more active 

role in their children’s media viewing habits, the Ad Council has 

proudly joined with a broad coalition of industry organizations to 

launch this national PSA campaign. We are incredibly enthusiastic 

about this partnership, particularly since it marks the first time 

that all TV media platforms are working together to amplify a single message. Think of the power that that holds. 

This unprecedented effort spearheaded by our friend, Jack Valenti, has been created pro bono by a world-class team from the ad 

agency, McCann Erickson New York. That’s the very same agency 

that created the ‘‘Priceless’’ campaign for MasterCard. 

I’d like to thank Gayle Barlow and Sasha Schor, who are both 

with us this morning, both VPs and Creative Directors at McCann, 

for their incredible commitment. We think that they’re priceless. 

As you’ll see in a few minutes, the result of their commitment 

and hard work are fantastic. As you might imagine, it takes more 

than a catchy slogan to create effective advertising. The Ad Council 

knows how to create breakthrough messages that inspire our target 

audiences to take action. Much of that stems from the extensive research that we conduct before, during, and after our campaigns are 

developed. That includes testing the spots with the target audience 

before any of the work is approved for distribution. And we benchmark attitudes and behaviors, and track those over time. This campaign is no different. 

4

Certainly, the incredible commitment of our media partners, coupled with the magnificent creative developed by McCann, and the 

robust website developed by Ripple Effects Interactive will effectively educate and inspire parents to take control of their children’s 

media viewing habits. At the end of the day, that is what this is 

all about. 

And now before I turn this back over to Jack Valenti, I want to 

thank him for being not only a champion of this issue, but of this 

campaign itself. Jack, we couldn’t have done it without you. Thank 

you for your partnership. 

Mr. VALENTI. Thank you very much, Peggy. 

I want to thank again Dan Glickman, and Kyle McSlarrow, and 

David Rehr, and Gary Shapiro for shepherding what I think is an 

unprecedented, seamless web of unity of every national broadcast 

network, every television station, every cable system, every direct 

broadcast satellite system, every movie studio, every TV programmer, have joined together. This has never happened before. 

This will be an 18-month campaign to try to tell the American 

people, you, Mr. and Ms. Parent, are the TV boss of your home. 

You have power right now to control every hour of entertainment 

programming in your home. 

Now, the Congress recently passed this indecency law—so called, 

in which it fines $325,000 for every indecent word. But the American public doesn’t realize that if you have a hundred channel cable 

systems, it only covers about seven, eight, or nine channels. No 

more. What we’re trying to do covers all channels that deal in entertainment programming, so that the parents can leave the home 

at night to go to dinner, and be secure in the knowledge that their 

children are not going to watch any program that they don’t want 

them to watch. They’ve blocked the ones that they want to put in 

exile, and no matter the babysitter’s choice, that TV set will be 

blank on those programs. That’s a huge, huge step forward. And 

what we’re going to present to you today is some of the visual spots 

that we’ll be running. As a matter of fact, they began yesterday. 

They’re on tonight in prime time. They were on yesterday in prime 

time, not only on national broadcast networks, but on the direct 

broadcast satellite, and they’ll be on tonight, and this weekend, and 

you’ll see them throughout this summer, and this year, and into 

the next year. 

We have two spots we’re going to show you. Others are either in 

revision right now or in design, so that as these spots begin to wear 

out their welcome, we’ll have the new ones coming on. 

The whole idea is to direct parents to a website called 

‘‘TheTVBoss.org.’’ Now, all of you around this table write that down 

because I hope that you’re already going to that site. It’s up, and 

it’s functioning, and you’ll see it now, and it will then tell the parents in easy to understand, easy to follow language how they can 

block. 

Now, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Co-Chairman, I am technologically illiterate. I admit that. I confess it. And when I go to mass this Sunday, I’ll ask for absolution on that, but that’s all I can do. The fact 

is, though, that after a couple tries at it, I got the hang of this, and 

if I can do it, anybody can do it. It’s easy to do. 

5

Now, I say to you in advance, we can’t command people to do 

what’s best for them and their children. Lyndon Johnson used to 

say, ‘‘You can tell a man to go to hell, but getting him to go there 

is another proposition.’’ So what I’m saying to you is, that we’re 

going to do our best, over, and over, and over, and over again, telling parents you can command television—all of it, not just part of 

it, but all of it—and you can do it easily, and you can do it by rating of a television show, by genre, by individual programming, by 

time, whatever. All easy to do. 

Now, finally—that’s a wonderful word. Finally—it makes everybody feel good. There are only a few places where a moral shield 

can be built in a child, home, school, church, synagogue, mosque. 

That’s it. And if the child builds—with the help of a parent, builds 

that moral shield, then they can navigate the dark corridors of the 

land we live in now, and the kind of digital world we live in. But 

if parents don’t exercise this responsibility—and I think you’ll 

agree—I don’t think government can do it. Not only should government not do it, I think government is forbidden to do it by the Constitution. It has to be the parent, and I’m hopeful that over this 

next 18 months, by the dent of the repetition of these visual announcements, that we’ll make some impress. I don’t guarantee anything, but I’ll tell you it won’t be for lack of trying. 

Now, the first thing I’d like to show you, Mr. Chairman, is two 

of these spots that are playing now in prime time. So let’s run 

these two spots. 

[Plays video.] 

Mr. VALENTI. So far, it’s pretty good. 

I wonder if we could run those again. They’re only 30 seconds, 

let’s get part of the repetition going right here now. Let’s run them 

again. 

[Plays video.] 

Mr. VALENTI. Now, the next thing I want to show you is the 

website itself. The Ad Council’s done a little home movie of it, and 

I hope you’ll like it. This is where we try to tell parents how to deal 

in this apparatus, how to be the TV boss, and the few steps you 

have to go through to do it. As I said earlier, I can do it, and therefore, I’m absolutely convinced that anybody else can do it. Because 

this is where the actual blocking will be done. 

Let’s see our little Ad Council’s movie. 

The CHAIRMAN. Who’s got the volume? Turn it up a little bit, will 

you? 

[Plays video.] 

Mr. VALENTI. Mr. Chairman, we have other things we’re doing. 

We’re going to be preparing this same material to send to churches 

and to advocacy groups, like the PTA, all over this country, and if 

they so choose, they can then distribute it to their parishioners and 

to their members. And we think this will give added reach, spacious new territory for us, so that parents will be aware of this and 

want to use it. 

And we’re going to do something that I think you would be especially interested in. We’re going to prepare a member’s kit with all 

of this material in it to send to every single member of the House 

of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. We’ve already sent this to 

6

the Federal Communications Commission, I believe, and we’ll send 

it to anybody else that wants to view it. 

These members can then put this on their own websites, so they 

can tell their constituents in their district and in their state what 

they are doing to help parents completely and totally monitor and 

have power over all of the television entertainment programs in 

their home. There’s no other way to do this, except through parental responsibility, and the use of these blocking techniques. 

And we’re going to be monitoring this as closely as we can, as 

Peggy said. They’re in the midst of research right now to do a 

benchmark research level. At the end of nine months, there will be 

more research. At the end of an additional nine months, another 

piece of research, so we can measure whatever progress we think 

has been made, and we have the questions of these polling. If anybody in your staff would want to look at them, we will make those 

questions available to you, so you see the methodology that we’re 

doing. 

As I said before, this is unique. It’s never been tried before, and 

I’m hopeful that at the end of this period, that more parents will 

have taken the lead in their own home. If parents truly care—if 

they really care about what their children are watching, and the 

programs they think are unsuitable for their children—because 

many parents enjoy a lot of programs that they don’t find suitable 

for their seven, eight or nine-year-olds. So if they care, we’re saying 

we’re giving you the tools to do this job, where you can truly and 

honestly and authentically be the TV boss of your home. 

This is our program, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Co-Chairman. We 

present it to you to redeem the pledge we made to you in November of last year that we would come back with our ideas of how this 

ought to be done without government interference. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much. 

And, Ms. Conlon, we certainly congratulate you for participating 

in this grand partnership. During my time here, and I’m sure my 

friend and Co-Chairman would say the same thing. I can’t remember such a coordinated campaign. And we join you in thanking all 

of those that you’ve mentioned, The Consumer Electronics Association, National Association of Broadcasters, The National Cable and 

Telecommunications Association, Motion Picture Association, and 

we’re impressed that the television broadcast networks, ABC, CBS, 

NBC, FOX, Direct to Home satellite providers, Direct TV, and 

EchoStar, they’re all together. I can’t remember when I’ve seen this 

communications industry totally united in one objective, and I’m 

certain that it will be effective over a period of time if people listen. 

I think parents may have the job of setting the standards, but 

their children themselves will enforce it once they get the message. 

I think they will understand what we’re doing in trying to protect 

the coming generations from being exposed to excessive abuse, and 

to language, and to accidents that we do not think they should be 

able to witness during their formative years. 

So, again, I congratulate you very much. 

Senator Inouye. 

7

STATEMENT OF HON. DANIEL K. INOUYE,

U.S. SENATOR FROM HAWAII 

Senator INOUYE. Mr. Valenti, there’s a bill called the Telecommunications Act of 2006. Can you help us get your troops together? They’re all over the place. 

Mr. VALENTI. Well, I’m not sure that I want to get into that cauldron of hell myself, but whenever Senator Inouye asks me something, I stand, salute, and say, by jingles, I’ll try. 

The CHAIRMAN. Well, he’s one up on me. I was about ready to 

ask Ms. Conlon if she’d join us, too. We need the Ad Council a little 

bit the next few weeks. 

But go ahead, Senator. 

Senator INOUYE. But, seriously, you’re remarkable, and I’m glad 

we have a program such as this, and I’m going to do my best to 

advise every member—I think the Chairman and I will advise 

every member to make sure that the information about that chip 

is on their website, that we’re going to urge every member of the 

Senate to do the same thing. That’s the least we can do, and I’m 

certain it will be a success. 

Congratulations, sir. 

Mr. VALENTI. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Yes. And if you will tell us when you’re going to 

deliver those kits, I’m sure my friend and I will go to the floor and 

make a statement on the floor to call attention to members, so that 

they don’t just get put away somewhere by their staff, so that the 

members themselves address those kits. And I’m sure we’ll both 

make a commitment to you, we’ll put it on our website as soon as 

we get the information. 

I think that we must join you to carry this out, and I hope every 

Member of Congress will do that. 

Mr. VALENTI. We’re going to get on that. It’s good to have a 

former Congressman sitting at our table, like Dan Glickman. He 

said, ‘‘Well, you ought to have a kit that goes to members, so they 

can put it on their websites.’’ And I thought it was a brilliant idea, 

and I’m not sure when those kits will be ready. 

Ms. CONLON. In just a few weeks, we’re waiting for the spots to 

be finished, and they’re in development now, so we will—when 

they’re ready. 

Mr. VALENTI. So by the time that the members get back from 

their August recess, they will—it will be sometime in November, 

the members will have those kits, and they can put it on their 

websites. 

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I want to emphasize again that I’ve 

had a little experience 38 years ago in inventing the movie rating 

system, and letting parents understand that the only people who 

can really guide their children is a parent, not a government, and 

if the parents don’t care, if they’re not doing it, then all the mighty 

powers of the President, the Congress, the army of regulatory agencies will be like tracings on dry leaves in the wind. It will make 

no difference unless parents enter this thing, and say, by jingles, 

I’m going to be TV boss of my home, and I’m going to control it, 

and my children are not going to watch things that I find to be unsuitable. If they do that, then we would have entered a more harmonious age, and I think all of us will welcome it. 

8

But this has been a great experience for me and my colleagues, 

and we’re going to continue working on it. 

But most of all, I thank you, and the Co-Chairman, Mr. Chairman, for really being the champions of doing this the right way, 

and that is in the individual private sectors, and in the home. 

That’s the only place it can be done. 

Thank you, sir. 

The CHAIRMAN. Well, thank you very much. And, Ms. Conlon, if 

it’s agreeable with you, we would like to put on record that we will 

have a hearing when you get your first sort of progress report at 

the end of the 9-month period, if that’s all right. 

Ms. CONLON. We’d be delighted. 

The CHAIRMAN. I think we would like to have a way to notify everyone on this Committee and the Congress of how this program 

has progressed. But, again, I congratulate all of you and all of your 

partners. 

And I’ve got to tell you, we could not legislate this. We could not 

legislate the reaction that you could produce with this program, 

and we’re very hopeful that it will succeed because we have the demands from some people to legislate, and it’s awfully difficult to define decency in this concept, and more than that, to find the constitutional powers to do it, and of these entities that are involved 

voluntarily now with you in a program to teach the parents how 

to control their own home and to control access for their children 

for the programs that they would not want them to watch. 

So thank you very much for your participation, Jack. 

Mr. VALENTI. Thank you, sir. 

The CHAIRMAN. Happy to see you back. 

Ms. CONLON. Thank you, sir. 

Mr. VALENTI. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Co-Chairman. 

Thank you very much. 

The CHAIRMAN. This Committee will stand in recess until eleven 

o’clock when we’ve got another hearing. 

[Whereupon, at 10:40 a.m., the briefing was adjourned.]

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