I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1807

To provide means of limiting the exposure of children to violent programming

on television, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 8, 1995

Mr. MORAN (for himself, Mr. MARTINEZ, Mr. LAUGHLIN, Mr. MONTGOMERY,

Mr. SPRATT, Mr. DEUTSCH, Mr. BEREUTER, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. MILLER

of California, Mrs. COLLINS of Illinois, Mr. POMEROY, Mr. HILLIARD,

Mr. UNDERWOOD, Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA, Mr. MENENDEZ, Ms. KAPTUR,

Mrs. CLAYTON, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. JACOBS, Mr. HALL

of Ohio, Mr. THORNTON, Mr. PAYNE of Virginia, Mr. MOLLOHAN, Mr.

CLYBURN, Mr. FROST, and Mr. HEFNER) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To provide means of limiting the exposure of children to

violent programming on television, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Children’s Media Pro5 tection Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress makes the following findings:
2

•HR 1807 IH

1 (1) On average, a child in the United States is

2 exposed to 27 hours of television each week, and

3 some children are exposed to as much as 11 hours

4 of television each day.

5 (2) The average American child watches 8,000

6 murders and 100,000 acts of other violence on tele7 vision by the time the child completes elementary

8 school.

9 (3) By the age of 18 years, the average Amer10 ican teenager has watched 200,000 acts of violence

11 on television, including 40,000 murders.

12 (4) The Times Mirror Center reports that a re13 cent poll of Americans indicates that 72 percent of

14 the American people believe that there is too much

15 violence on television, and, according to a survey by

16 U.S. News and World Report dated May 1994, 91

17 percent of American voters believe that mayhem in

18 the media contributes to violence in real life.

19 (5) On several occasions since 1975, The Jour20 nal of the American Medical Association has alerted

21 the medical community to the adverse effects of tele22 vised violence on child development, including an in23 crease in the level of aggressive behavior and violent

24 behavior among children who view it.
3

•HR 1807 IH

1 (6) The National Commission on Children rec2 ommended in 1991 that producers of television pro3 grams exercise greater restraint in the content of

4 programming for children.

5 (7) A report of the Harry Frank Guggenheim

6 Foundation, dated May 1993, indicates that there is

7 an irrefutable connection between the amount of vio8 lence depicted in the television programs watched by

9 children and increased aggressive behavior among

10 children.

11 (8) It is in the national interest that parents be

12 empowered with the technology to block the viewing

13 of television programs that are clearly inappropriate

14 for children because of their sexual, violent, or inde15 cent content.

16 (9) Technology currently exists to permit the

17 manufacture of television receivers that are capable

18 of permitting parents to block such television pro19 grams.

20 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF TELEVISION RATING CODE.

21 Section 303 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

22 U.S.C. 303) is amended by adding at the end the follow23 ing:

24 ‘‘(v) Prescribe—
4

•HR 1807 IH

1 ‘‘(1) on the basis of recommendations from an

2 advisory committee established by the Commission

3 that is composed of television broadcasters, television

4 programming producers, cable operators, appro5 priate public interest groups, and other interested

6 individuals from the private sector and that is fairly

7 balanced in terms of the points of view represented

8 and the functions to be performed by the committee,

9 rules to identify and rate sexual, violent, and inde10 cent television programming that is clearly inappro11 priate for children, and

12 ‘‘(2) rules for the transmission by distributors

13 of television programming of signals that contain an

14 identification of the rating (pursuant to the rules

15 prescribed under paragraph (1)) of the programming

16 being distributed and that permit television viewers

17 to block sexual, violent, and indecent television pro18 gramming that is clearly inappropriate for chil19 dren.’’.

20 SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT FOR MANUFACTURE OF TELE21 VISIONS THAT BLOCK PROGRAMS.

22 Section 303 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

23 U.S.C. 303), as amended by section 3, is further amended

24 by adding at the end the following:
5

•HR 1807 IH

1 ‘‘(w) Require, in the case of apparatus designed to

2 receive television signals that are manufactured in the

3 United States or imported for use in the United States

4 and that have a picture screen 13 inches or greater in

5 size (measured diagonally), that such apparatus—

6 ‘‘(1) be equipped with circuitry designed to en7 able viewers to block the display of channels, pro8 grams, and time slots; and

9 ‘‘(2) enable viewers to block display of all pro10 grams with a common rating.’’.

11 SEC. 5. SHIPPING OR IMPORTING OF TELEVISIONS THAT

12 BLOCK PROGRAMS.

13 (a) REGULATIONS.—Section 330 of the Communica14 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 330) is amended—

15 (1) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub16 section (d); and

17 (2) by adding after subsection (b) the following

18 new subsection (c):

19 ‘‘(c)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), no per20 son shall ship in interstate commerce, manufacture, as21 semble, or import from any foreign country into the

22 United States any apparatus described in section 303(w)

23 of this Act except in accordance with rules prescribed by

24 the Commission pursuant to the authority granted by that

25 section.
6

•HR 1807 IH

1 ‘‘(2) This subsection shall not apply to carriers trans2 porting apparatus referred to in paragraph (1) without

3 trading it.

4 ‘‘(3) The rules prescribed by the Commission under

5 this subsection shall provide performance standards for

6 blocking technology. Such rules shall require that all such

7 apparatus be able to receive the rating signals which have

8 been transmitted by way of line 21 of the vertical blanking

9 interval and which conform to the signal and blocking

10 specifications established by the Commission.

11 ‘‘(4) As new video technology is developed, the Com12 mission shall take such action as the Commission deter13 mines appropriate to ensure that blocking service contin14 ues to be available to consumers.’’.

15 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 330(d) of

16 such Act, as redesignated by subsection (a)(1), is amended

17 by striking ‘‘section 303(s), and section 303(u)’’ and in18 serting in lieu thereof ‘‘and sections 303(s), 303(u), and

19 303(w)’’.

20 SEC. 6. ELIMINATION OF TELEVISION PROGRAMMING THAT

21 IS INAPPROPRIATE FOR CHILDREN DURING

22 CERTAIN HOURS.

23 Title I of the Children’s Television Act of 1990 (47

24 U.S.C. 303a et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the

25 following:
7

•HR 1807 IH

1 ‘‘PROHIBITION ON PROGRAMMING THAT IS

2 INAPPROPRIATE FOR CHILDREN

3 ‘‘SEC. 105. (a) The Commission shall, within 30 days

4 of the date of the enactment of this Act, initiate a rule5 making proceeding to prescribe a prohibition on the broad6 cast on commercial television and by public telecommuni7 cations entities, including the broadcast by cable opera8 tors, from the hours of 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., inclusive, of pro9 gramming that contains sexual, violent, and indecent tele10 vision programming that is clearly inappropriate for chil11 dren.

12 ‘‘(b) As used in this section:

13 ‘‘(1) The term ‘cable operator’ has the meaning

14 given such term in section 602 of the Communica15 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522).

16 ‘‘(2) The term ‘programming’ includes adver17 tisements but does not include bona fide newscasts,

18 bona fide news interviews, bona fide news documen19 taries, and on-the-spot coverage of bona fide news

20 events.

21 ‘‘(3) The term ‘public telecommunications en22 tity’ has the meaning given such term in section

23 397(12) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

24 U.S.C. 397(12)).’’.
8

•HR 1807 IH

1 SEC. 7. BROADCAST ON TELEVISION AND CABLE OF EDU2 CATIONAL AND INFORMATIONAL PROGRAM3 MING FOR CHILDREN.

4 (a) BROADCAST TELEVISION.—Section 309 of the

5 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309) is amended

6 by adding at the end the following:

7 ‘‘(k) EDUCATIONAL AND INFORMATION PROGRAM8 MING FOR CHILDREN.—In granting an application for a

9 license for a television broadcasting station (including an

10 application for renewal of such a license), the Commission

11 shall impose such conditions upon the applicant as the

12 Commission requires in order to ensure that the applicant

13 complies under the license with the standards for chil14 dren’s television programming established under section

15 102 of the Children’s Television Act of 1990 (47 U.S.C.

16 303a) and otherwise serves the educational and informa17 tional needs of children through its overall program18 ming.’’.

19 (b) CABLE SERVICE.—Part III of title VI of the

20 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 541 et seq.) is

21 amended by adding at the end the following:

22 ‘‘SEC. 629. EDUCATIONAL AND INFORMATION PROGRAM23 MING FOR CHILDREN

24 ‘‘SEC. 629. A franchise, including the renewal of a

25 franchise, may not be awarded under this part unless the

26 cable operator to be awarded the franchise agrees to com-
9

•HR 1807 IH

1 ply with the standards for children’s television program2 ming established under section 102 of the Children’s Tele3 vision Act of 1990 (47 U.S.C. 303a) and to otherwise

4 serve the educational and informational needs of children

5 in the provision of cable service under the franchise.’’.

Æ