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103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1811

To require new television sets to have built-in circuitry to allow viewers

to block the display of programs rated violent.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 31 (legislative day, JANUARY 25), 1994

Mr. DORGAN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

A BILL

To require new television sets to have built-in circuitry to

allow viewers to block the display of programs rated violent.

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 ‘‘Television Violence Re5 duction Through Parental Empowerment Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds the following:

8 (1) To the fullest extent possible, parents

9 should be empowered with the technology to choose
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1 to block the display on their televisions of programs

2 they consider too violent for their children.

3 (2) Violence now touches the lives of American

4 children more than adults. From 1982 through

5 1984, teenagers were the victims of 1,800,000 vio6 lent crimes, twice the annual rate of the adult popu7 lation over age 20. According to the American Acad8 emy of Pediatrics, one of every 8 deaths among chil9 dren age 10–14 years old in 1990 was caused by a

10 shooting. Among teenagers and young adults, that

11 figure rose to one of every four deaths.

12 (3) Children watch an extensive amount of tele13 vision. It is estimated that a child watches approxi14 mately 22,000 hours of television before finishing

15 high school, almost twice the amount of time spent

16 in the classroom.

17 (4) The amount of violence on television has

18 reached epidemic levels. The American Psychological

19 Association estimates that the average child wit20 nesses 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence

21 before finishing elementary school.

22 (5) Three Surgeon Generals, the National Insti23 tute of Mental Health, the Centers for Disease Con24 trol, the American Medical Association, the Amer25 ican Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psy-
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1 chological Association have concurred for nearly 20

2 years as to the deleterious effects of television vio3 lence on children.

4 (6) Despite periodic television industry efforts

5 to reduce the amount of television violence, reduc6 tions in the level of televised violence have never

7 been long lasting.

8 (7) Parents who are working are unable to con9 stantly monitor the television viewing habits of their

10 children. Advanced television technologies such as

11 channel compression and digitization will allow the

12 expansion of channel capacity to levels even more

13 unmanageable for parents who want to protect their

14 children from televised violence.

15 (8) The major broadcast networks and a large

16 number of cable channels have agreed to place pa17 rental advisories on programs they consider to be too

18 violent for children. These parental advisories are of

19 limited use to parents if they are not watching tele20 vision with their children.

21 (9) The technology currently exists to equip tel22 evision sets at a nominal cost to permit parents to

23 block the display of television programs they con24 sider too violent for children. However, this tech25 nology will only be effective (A) if all television pro-
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1 grammers send any adopted rating or warning sys2 tem electronically with the program signal, and (B)

3 parents are able to block the display not only of in4 dividual programs but to block out automatically

5 and simultaneously all programs with such rating.

6 (10) Congress calls upon the broadcast net7 works, independent television stations, cable pro8 grammers, and satellite programmers to protect the

9 parental right to guide the television viewing habits

10 of children by sending any adopted rating or warn11 ing system electronically with the program signal.

12 SEC. 3. EQUIP TELEVISIONS TO BLOCK PROGRAMS.

13 Section 303 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

14 U.S.C. 303) is amended by adding at the end thereof the

15 following:

16 ‘‘(v) Require that (1) apparatus designed to receive

17 television signals be equipped with circuitry designed to

18 enable viewers to block the display of channels, programs,

19 and time slots; and (2) such apparatus enable viewers to

20 block display of all programs with a common rating. The

21 requirements of this subsection shall apply when such ap22 paratus is manufactured in the United States or imported

23 for use in the United States, and its television picture

24 screen is 13 inches or greater in size, measured diago25 nally.’’.
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1 SEC. 4. SHIPPING OR IMPORTING.

2 (a) REGULATIONS.—Section 330 of the Communica3 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 330) is amended—

4 (1) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub5 section (d); and

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

7 new section:

8 ‘‘(c) No person shall ship in interstate commerce,

9 manufacture, assemble, or import from any foreign coun10 try into the United States, any apparatus described in sec11 tion 303(v) of this Act except in accordance with rules

12 prescribed by the Commission pursuant to the authority

13 granted by that section. Such rules shall provide perform14 ance standards for such blocking technology. Such rules

15 shall further require that all such apparatus be able to

16 receive the rating signals which have been transmitted by

17 way of line 21 of the vertical blanking interval and which

18 conform to the signal and blocking specifications estab19 lished by the Commission. As new video technology is de20 veloped, the Commission shall take such action as the

21 Commission determines appropriate to ensure that block22 ing service continues to be available to consumers. This

23 subsection shall not apply to carriers transporting such

24 apparatus without trading it.’’.

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

26 such Act, as redesignated by this Act, is amended by strik-
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1 ing ‘‘section 303(s), and section 303(u)’’ and inserting in

2 lieu thereof ‘‘and sections 303(s), 303(u), and 303(v)’’.

3 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

4 The amendments made by sections 3 and 4 of this

5 Act shall take effect one year after enactment of this Act.

6 SEC. 6. RULES.

7 The Federal Communications Commission shall pro8 mulgate rules to implement the amendments made by this

9 Act within 180 days after the date of its enactment.

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