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Calendar No. 953

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 876

[Report No. 106–509]

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require that the broadcast

of violent video programming be limited to hours when children are

not reasonably likely to comprise a substantial portion of the audience.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

APRIL 26, 1999

Mr. HOLLINGS (for himself, Mr. DORGAN, Mr. BYRD, and Mr. INOUYE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

OCTOBER 26 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 22), 2000

Reported by Mr. MCCAIN, with an amendment

[Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

A BILL

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require that

the broadcast of violent video programming be limited

to hours when children are not reasonably likely to comprise a substantial portion of the audience.

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

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Children’s Protection

3 from Violent Programming Act’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

5 The Congress makes the following findings:

6 (1) Television influences the perception children

7 have of the values and behavior that are common

8 and acceptable in society.

9 (2) Broadcast television, cable television, and

10 video programming are—

11 (A) pervasive presences in the lives of all

12 American children; and

13 (B) readily accessible to all American chil14 dren.

15 (3) Violent video programming influences chil16 dren, as does indecent programming.

17 (4) There is empirical evidence that children ex18 posed to violent video programming at a young age

19 have a higher tendency to engage in violent and ag20 gressive behavior later in life than those children not

21 so exposed.

22 (5) Children exposed to violent video program23 ming are prone to assume that acts of violence are

24 acceptable behavior and therefore to imitate such be25 havior.
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1 (6) Children exposed to violent video program2 ming have an increased fear of becoming a victim of

3 violence, resulting in increased self-protective behav4 iors and increased mistrust of others.

5 (7) There is a compelling governmental interest

6 in limiting the negative influences of violent video

7 programming on children.

8 (8) There is a compelling governmental interest

9 in channeling programming with violent content to

10 periods of the day when children are not likely to

11 comprise a substantial portion of the television audi12 ence.

13 (9) Because some programming that is readily

14 accessible to minors remains unrated and therefore

15 cannot be blocked solely on the basis of its violent

16 content, restricting the hours when violent video pro17 gramming is shown is the least restrictive and most

18 narrowly tailored means to achieve a compelling gov19 ernmental interest.

20 (10) Warning labels about the violent content of

21 video programming will not in themselves prevent

22 children from watching violent video programming.

23 (11) Although many programs are now subject

24 to both age-based and content-based ratings, some

25 broadcast and non-premium cable programs remain
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1 unrated with respect to the content of their pro2 gramming.

3 (12) Technology-based solutions may be helpful

4 in protecting some children, but may not be effective

5 in achieving the compelling governmental interest in

6 protecting all children from violent programming

7 when parents are only able to block programming

8 that has in fact been rated for violence.

9 (13) Technology-based solutions will not be in10 stalled in all newly manufactured televisions until

11 January 1, 2000.

12 (14) Even though technology-based solutions

13 will be readily available, many consumers of video

14 programming will not actually own such technology

15 for several years and therefore will be unable to take

16 advantage of content based ratings to prevent their

17 children from watching violent programming.

18 (15) In light of the fact that some program19 ming remains unrated for content, and given that

20 many consumers will not have blocking technology in

21 the near future, the channeling of violent program22 ming is the least restrictive means to limit the expo23 sure of children to the harmful influences of violent

24 programming.
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1 (16) Restricting the hours when violent pro2 gramming can be shown protects the interests of

3 children whose parents are unavailable, are unable

4 to supervise their children’s viewing behavior, do not

5 have the benefit of technology-based solutions, are

6 unable to afford the costs of technology-based solu7 tion, or are unable to determine the content of those

8 shows that are only subject to age-based ratings.

9 SEC. 3. UNLAWFUL DISTRIBUTION OF VIOLENT VIDEO PRO10 GRAMMING.

11 Title VII of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

12 U.S.C. 701 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the

13 following:

14 ‘‘SEC. 715. UNLAWFUL DISTRIBUTION OF VIOLENT VIDEO

15 PROGRAMMING NOT SPECIFICALLY

16 BLOCKABLE BY ELECTRONIC MEANS.

17 ‘‘(a) UNLAWFUL DISTRIBUTION.—It shall be unlaw18 ful for any person to distribute to the public any violent

19 video programming during hours when children are rea20 sonably likely to comprise a substantial portion of the au21 dience.

22 ‘‘(b) RULEMAKING PROCEEDING.—The Commission

23 shall conduct a rulemaking proceeding to implement the

24 provisions of this section and shall promulgate final regu25 lations pursuant to that proceeding not later than 9
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1 months after the date of enactment of the Children’s Pro2 tection from Violent Programming Act. As part of that

3 proceeding, the Commission—

4 ‘‘(1) may exempt from the prohibition under

5 subsection (a) programming (including news pro6 grams and sporting events) whose distribution does

7 not conflict with the objective of protecting children

8 from the negative influences of violent video pro9 gramming, as that objective is reflected in the find10 ings in section 551(a) of the Telecommunications

11 Act of 1996;

12 ‘‘(2) shall exempt premium and pay-per-view

13 cable programming; and

14 ‘‘(3) shall define the term ‘hours when children

15 are reasonably likely to comprise a substantial por16 tion of the audience’ and the term ‘violent video pro17 gramming’.

18 ‘‘(c) REPEAT VIOLATIONS.—If a person repeatedly

19 violates this section or any regulation promulgated under

20 this section, the Commission shall, after notice and oppor21 tunity for hearing, revoke any license issued to that person

22 under this Act.

23 ‘‘(d) CONSIDERATION OF VIOLATIONS IN LICENSE

24 RENEWALS.—The Commission shall consider, among the

25 elements in its review of an application for renewal of a
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1 license under this Act, whether the licensee has complied

2 with this section and the regulations promulgated under

3 this section.

4 ‘‘(e) DISTRIBUTE DEFINED.—In this section, the

5 term ‘distribute’ means to send, transmit, retransmit, tele6 cast, broadcast, or cablecast, including by wire, micro7 wave, or satellite.’’.

8 SEC. 4. SEPARABILITY.

9 If any provision of this Act, or any provision of an

10 amendment made by this Act, or the application thereof

11 to particular persons or circumstances, is found to be un12 constitutional, the remainder of this Act or that amend13 ment, or the application thereof to other persons or cir14 cumstances shall not be affected.

15 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

16 The prohibition contained in section 715 of the Com17 munications Act of 1934 (as added by section 3 of this

18 Act) and the regulations promulgated thereunder shall

19 take effect 1 year after the regulations are adopted by the

20 Commission.

21 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

22 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Children’s Protection

23 from Violent Programming Act’’.

24 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

25 The Congress makes the following findings:
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1 (1) Television influences children’s perception of

2 the values and behavior that are common and accept3 able in society.

4 (2) Broadcast television, cable television, and

5 video programming are—

6 (A) uniquely pervasive presences in the lives

7 of all American children; and

8 (B) readily accessible to all American chil9 dren.

10 (3) Violent video programming influences chil11 dren, as does indecent programming.

12 (4) There is empirical evidence that children ex13 posed to violent video programming at a young age

14 have a higher tendency to engage in violent and ag15 gressive behavior later in life than those children not

16 so exposed.

17 (5) There is empirical evidence that children ex18 posed to violent video programming have a greater

19 tendency to assume that acts of violence are accept20 able behavior and therefore to imitate such behavior.

21 (6) There is empirical evidence that children ex22 posed to violent video programming have an in23 creased fear of becoming a victim of violence, result24 ing in increased self-protective behaviors and in25 creased mistrust of others.
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1 (7) There is a compelling governmental interest

2 in limiting the negative influences of violent video

3 programming on children.

4 (8) There is a compelling governmental interest

5 in channeling programming with violent content to

6 periods of the day when children are not likely to

7 comprise a substantial portion of the television audi8 ence.

9 (9) A significant amount of violent program10 ming that is readily accessible to minors remains

11 unrated specifically for violence and therefore cannot

12 be blocked solely on the basis of its violent content.

13 (10) Age-based ratings that do not include con14 tent rating for violence do not allow parents to block

15 programming based solely on violent content thereby

16 rendering ineffective any technology-based blocking

17 mechanism designed to limit violent video program18 ming.

19 (11) The most recent study of the television rat20 ings system by the Kaiser Family Foundation con21 cludes that 79 percent of violent programming is not

22 specifically rated for violence.

23 (12) Technology-based solutions, such as the V24 chip, may be helpful in protecting some children, but

25 cannot achieve the compelling governmental interest
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1 in protecting all children from violent programming

2 when parents are only able to block programming

3 that has, in fact, been rated for violence.

4 (13) Restricting the hours when violent program5 ming can be shown protects the interests of children

6 whose parents are unavailable, unable to supervise

7 their children’s viewing behavior, do not have the ben8 efit of technology-based solutions, are unable to afford

9 the costs of technology-based solutions, or are unable

10 to determine the content of those shows that are only

11 subject to age-based ratings.

12 (14) After further study, pursuant to a rule13 making, the Federal Communications Commission

14 may conclude that content-based ratings and blocking

15 technology do not effectively protect children from the

16 harm of violent video programming.

17 (15) If the Federal Communications Commission

18 reaches the conclusion described in paragraph (14),

19 the channeling of violent video programming will be

20 the least restrictive means of limiting the exposure of

21 children to the harmful influences of violent video

22 programming.
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1 SEC. 3. ASSESSMENT OF EFFECTIVENESS OF CURRENT RAT2 ING SYSTEM FOR VIOLENCE AND EFFECTIVE3 NESS OF V-CHIP IN BLOCKING VIOLENT PRO4 GRAMMING.

5 (a) REPORT.—The Federal Communications Commis6 sion shall—

7 (1) assess the effectiveness of measures to require

8 television broadcasters and multichannel video pro9 gramming distributors (as defined in section 602(13)

10 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C.

11 522(13)) to rate and encode programming that could

12 be blocked by parents using the V-chip undertaken

13 under section 715 of the Communications Act of 1934

14 (47 U.S.C. 715) and under subsections (w) and (x) of

15 section 303 of that Act (47 U.S.C. 303(w) and (x))

16 in accomplishing the purposes for which they were en17 acted; and

18 (2) report its findings to the Committee on Com19 merce, Science, and Transportation of the United

20 States Senate and the Committee on Commerce of the

21 United States House of Representatives, within 12

22 months after the date of enactment of this Act, and

23 annually thereafter.

24 (b) ACTION.—If the Commission finds at any time, as

25 a result of its ongoing assessment under subsection (a), that

26 the measures referred to in subsection (a)(1) are insuffi-
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1 ciently effective, then the Commission shall complete a rule2 making within 270 days after the date on which the Com3 mission makes that finding to prohibit the distribution of

4 violent video programming during the hours when children

5 are reasonably likely to comprise a substantial portion of

6 the audience.

7 (c) DEFINITIONS.—Any term used in this section that

8 is defined in section 715 of the Communications Act of 1934

9 (47 U.S.C. 715), or in regulations under that section, has

10 the same meaning as when used in that section or in those

11 regulations.

12 SEC. 4. UNLAWFUL DISTRIBUTION OF VIOLENT VIDEO PRO13 GRAMMING THAT IS NOT SPECIFICALLY

14 RATED FOR VIOLENCE AND THEREFORE IS

15 NOT BLOCKABLE.

16 Title VII of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

17 U.S.C. 701 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the

18 following:

19 ‘‘SEC. 715. UNLAWFUL DISTRIBUTION OF VIOLENT VIDEO

20 PROGRAMMING NOT SPECIFICALLY

21 BLOCKABLE BY ELECTRONIC MEANS.

22 ‘‘(a) UNLAWFUL DISTRIBUTION.—It shall be unlawful

23 for any person to distribute to the public any violent video

24 programming not blockable by electronic means specifically

25 on the basis of its violent content during hours when chil-
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1 dren are reasonably likely to comprise a substantial portion

2 of the audience.

3 ‘‘(b) RULEMAKING PROCEEDING.—The Commission

4 shall conduct a rulemaking proceeding to implement the

5 provisions of this section and shall promulgate final regula6 tions pursuant to that proceeding not later than 9 months

7 after the date of enactment of the Children’s Protection from

8 Violent Programming Act. As part of that proceeding, the

9 Commission—

10 ‘‘(1) may exempt from the prohibition under

11 subsection (a) programming (including news pro12 grams and sporting events) whose distribution does

13 not conflict with the objective of protecting children

14 from the negative influences of violent video program15 ming, as that objective is reflected in the findings in

16 section 551(a) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996;

17 ‘‘(2) shall exempt premium and pay-per-view

18 cable programming and premium and pay-per-view

19 direct-to-home satellite programming; and

20 ‘‘(3) shall define the term ‘hours when children

21 are reasonably likely to comprise a substantial por22 tion of the audience’ and the term ‘violent video pro23 gramming’.

24 ‘‘(c) ENFORCEMENT.—
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1 ‘‘(1) FORFEITURE PENALTY.—The Commission

2 shall impose a forfeiture penalty of not more than

3 $25,000 on any person who violates this section or

4 any regulation promulgated under it for each such

5 violation. For purposes of this paragraph, each day

6 on which such a violation occurs is a separate viola7 tion.

8 ‘‘(2) LICENSE REVOCATION.—If a person repeat9 edly violates this section or any regulation promul10 gated under this section, the Commission shall, after

11 notice and opportunity for hearing, revoke any license

12 issued to that person under this Act.

13 ‘‘(3) LICENSE RENEWALS.—The Commission

14 shall consider, among the elements in its review of an

15 application for renewal of a license under this Act,

16 whether the licensee has complied with this section

17 and the regulations promulgated under this section.

18 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—

19 ‘‘(1) BLOCKABLE BY ELECTRONIC MEANS.—The

20 term ‘blockable by electronic means’ means blockable

21 by the feature described in section 303(x).

22 ‘‘(2) DISTRIBUTE.—The term ‘distribute’ means

23 to send, transmit, retransmit, telecast, broadcast, or

24 cablecast, including by wire, microwave, or satellite,

25 but it does not include the transmission, retrans-
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1 mission, or receipt of any voice, data, graphics, or

2 video telecommunications accessed through an inter3 active computer service as defined in section 230(f)(2)

4 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C.

5 230(f)(2)), which is not originated or transmitted in

6 the ordinary course of business by a television broad7 cast station or multichannel video programming dis8 tributor as defined in section 602(13) of that Act (47

9 U.S.C. 522(13)).

10 ‘‘(3) VIOLENT VIDEO PROGRAMMING.—The term

11 ‘violent video programming’ as defined by the Com12 mission may include matter that is excessive or gra13 tuitous violence within the meaning of the 1992

14 Broadcast Standards for the Depiction of Violence in

15 Television Programs, December 1992.’’.

16 SEC. 5. FTC STUDY OF MARKETING STRATEGY IMPROVE17 MENTS.

18 The Federal Trade Commission shall study the mar19 keting of violent content by the motion picture, music re20 cording, and computer and video game industries to chil21 dren, including the marketing practices improvements de22 scribed by industry representatives at the hearing held by

23 the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans24 portation on September 13, 2000. The Commission shall as25 sess the extent to which these marketing practices have im-
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1 proved under the model of self-regulation as recommended

2 by the Commission in its September, 2000, report, Making

3 Violent Entertainment to Children: A Review of Self Regu4 lation and Industry Practices in the Motion Picture, Music

5 Recording and Electronic Game Industries. The Commis6 sion shall report the results of the study, including findings,

7 and recommendations, if any, to the Senate Committee on

8 Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House of

9 Representatives Committee on Commerce within 18 months

10 after the date of enactment of this Act.

11 SEC. 6. SEPARABILITY.

12 If any provision of this Act, or any provision of an

13 amendment made by this Act, or the application thereof to

14 particular persons or circumstances, is found to be uncon15 stitutional, the remainder of this Act or that amendment,

16 or the application thereof to other persons or circumstances

17 shall not be affected.

18 SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE.

19 The prohibition contained in section 715 of the Com20 munications Act of 1934 (as added by section 2 of this Act)

21 and the regulations promulgated thereunder shall take effect

22 1 year after the regulations are adopted by the Commission.

Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘A Bill To amend the

Communications Act of 1934 to require that violent video

programming is limited to broadcast after the hours

when children are reasonably likely to comprise a sub-
17

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stantial portion of the audience, unless it is specifically

rated on the basis of its violent content so that it is

blockable by electronic means specifically on the basis of

that content.’’.
Calendar No. 953

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 876

[Report No. 106–509]

A BILL

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require that the broadcast of violent video programming be limited to hours when children are

not reasonably likely to comprise a substantialportion of the audience.

OCTOBER 26 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 22), 2000

Reported with an amendment