II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 876

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 introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

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,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act be cited as the ‘‘Children’s Protection from

5 Violent Programming Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress make the following findings:
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1 (1) Television influences the perception children

2 have of the values and behavior that are common

3 and acceptable in society.

4 (2) Broadcast television, cable television, and

5 video programming are—

6 (A) pervasive presences in the lives of all

7 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) Children exposed to violent video program18 ming are prone to assume that acts of violence are

19 acceptable behavior and therefore to imitate such be20 havior.

21 (6) Children exposed to violent video program22 ming have an increased fear of becoming a victim of

23 violence, resulting in increased self-protective behav24 iors and increased 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) Because some programming that is readily

10 accessible to minors remains unrated and therefore

11 cannot be blocked solely on the basis of its violent

12 content, restricting the hours when violent video pro13 gramming is shown is the least restrictive and most

14 narrowly tailored means to achieve a compelling gov15 ernmental interest.

16 (10) Warning labels about the violent content of

17 video programming will not in themselves prevent

18 children from watching violent video programming.

19 (11) Although many programs are now subject

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

21 broadcast and non-premium cable programs remain

22 unrated with respect to the content of their pro23 gramming.

24 (12) Technology-based solutions may be helpful

25 in protecting some children, but may not be effective
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1 in achieving the compelling governmental interest in

2 protecting all children from violent programming

3 when parents are only able to block programming

4 that has in fact been rated for violence.

5 (13) Technology-based solutions will not be in6 stalled in all newly manufactured televisions until

7 January 1, 2000.

8 (14) Even though technology-based solutions

9 will be readily available, many consumers of video

10 programming will not actually own such technology

11 for several years and therefore will be unable to take

12 advantage of content based ratings to prevent their

13 children from watching violent programming.

14 (15) In light of the fact that some program15 ming remains unrated for content, and given that

16 many consumers will not have blocking technology in

17 the near future, the channeling of violent program18 ming is the least restrictive means to limit the expo19 sure of children to the harmful influences of violent

20 programming.

21 (16) Restricting the hours when violent pro22 gramming can be shown protects the interests of

23 children whose parents are unavailable, and unable

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

25 have the benefit of technology-based solutions, are
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1 unable to afford the costs of technology-based solu2 tion, or are unable to determine the content of those

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

4 SEC. 3. UNLAWFUL DISTRIBUTION OF VIOLENT VIDEO PRO5 GRAMMING.

6 Title VII of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

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

8 following:

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

10 PROGRAMMING NOT SPECIFICALLY

11 BLOCKABLE BY ELECTRONIC MEANS.

12 ‘‘(a) UNLAWFUL DISTRIBUTION.—It shall be unlaw13 ful for any person to distribute to the public any violent

14 video programming during hours when children are rea15 sonable likely to comprise a substantial portion of the au16 dience.

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

18 shall conduct a rulemaking proceeding to implement the

19 provisions of this section and shall promulgate final regu20 lations pursuant to that proceeding not later than 9

21 months after the date of enactment of the Children’s Pro22 tection from Violent Programming Act. As part of that

23 proceeding, the Commission—

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

25 subsection (a) programming (including news pro-
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1 grams and sporting events) whose distribution does

2 not conflict with the objective of protecting children

3 from the negative influences of violent video pro4 gramming, as that objective is reflected in the find5 ings in section 551(a) of the Telecommunications

6 Act of 1996;

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

8 cable programming; and

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

10 are reasonably likely to comprise a substantial por11 tion of the audience’ and the term ‘violent video pro12 gramming’.

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

14 violates this section or any regulation promulgated under

15 this section, the Commission shall, after notice and oppor16 tunity for hearing, revoke any license issued to that person

17 under this Act.

18 ‘‘(d) CONSIDERATION OF VIOLATIONS IN LICENSE

19 RENEWALS.—The Commission shall consider, among the

20 elements in its review of an application for renewal of a

21 license under this Act, whether the licensee has complied

22 with this section and the regulations promulgated under

23 this section.

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

25 term ‘distribute’ means to send, transmit, retransmit, tele-
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1 cast, broadcast, or cablecast, including by wire, micro2 wave, or satellite.’’.

3 SEC. 4. SEPARABILITY.

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

5 amendment made by this Act, or the application thereof

6 to particular persons or circumstances, is found to be un7 constitutional, the remainder of this Act or that amend8 ment, or the application thereof to other persons or cir9 cumstances shall not be affected.

10 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

11 The prohibition contained in section 715 of the Com12 munications Act of 1934 (as added by section 3 of this

13 Act) and the regulations promulgated thereunder shall

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

15 Commission.

Æ