I

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 910

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require that violent television

programming is limited to broadcast after the hours when children are

reasonably likely to comprise a substantial 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.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 4, 1997

Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. SPRATT, Mr. MORAN

of Virginia, Mr. GREENWOOD, MR. KLINK, Mr. POSHARD, Mr. KENNEDY

of Massachusetts, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr.

FILNER, and Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon) introduced the following bill; which

was referred to the Committee on Commerce.

A BILL

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require that

violent television programming is limited to broadcast

after the hours when children are reasonably likely to

comprise a substantial 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.

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. 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. 718. 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 not blockable by electronic means spe15 cifically on the basis of its violent content during hours

16 when children are reasonably likely to comprise a substan17 tial portion of the audience.

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

19 shall conduct a rulemaking proceeding to implement the

20 provisions of this section and shall promulgate final regu21 lations pursuant to that proceeding not later than 9

22 months after the date of enactment of the Children’s Pro23 tection from Violent Programming Act. As part of that

24 proceeding, the Commission—
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1 ‘‘(1) may exempt from the prohibition under

2 subsection (a) programming (including news pro3 grams and sporting events) whose distribution does

4 not conflict with the objective of protecting children

5 from the negative influences of violent video pro6 gramming, as that objective is reflected in the find7 ings in section 551(a) of the Telecommunications

8 Act of 1996;

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

10 cable programming; and

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

12 are reasonably likely to comprise a substantial por13 tion of the audience’ and the term ‘violent video pro14 gramming’.

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

16 violates this section or any regulation promulgated under

17 this section, the Commission shall, after notice and oppor18 tunity for hearing, immediately revoke any license issued

19 to that person under this Act.

20 ‘‘(d) CONSIDERATION OF VIOLATIONS IN LICENSE

21 RENEWALS.—The Commission shall consider, among the

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

23 license under this Act, whether the licensee has complied

24 with this section and the regulations promulgated under

25 this section.
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1 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—

2 ‘‘(1) BLOCKABLE BY ELECTRONIC MEANS.—

3 The term ‘blockable by electronic means’ means

4 blockable by the feature described in section 303(x).

5 ‘‘(2) DISTRIBUTE.—The term ‘distribute’

6 means to send, transmit, retransmit, telecast, broad7 cast, or cablecast, including by wire, microwave, or

8 satellite.’’.

9 SEC. 3. ASSESSMENT OF EFFECTIVENESS.

10 (a) REPORT.—The Federal Communications Com11 mission shall—

12 (1) assess the effectiveness of measures under13 taken under section 718 of the Communications Act

14 of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 718) and under subsections (w)

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

16 303(w) and (x)) in accomplishing the purposes for

17 which they were enacted; and

18 (2) report its findings to the Committee on

19 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Unit20 ed States Senate and the Committee on Commerce

21 of the United States House of Representatives,

22 within 18 months after the date on which the regulations

23 promulgated under section 718 of the Communications

24 Act of 1934 (as added by section 2 of this Act) take effect,
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1 and thereafter as part of the biennial review of regulations

2 required by section 11 of that Act (47 U.S.C. 161).

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

4 as a result of its assessment under subsection (a), that

5 the measures referred to in subsection (a)(1) are insuffi6 ciently effective, then the Commission shall initiate a rule7 making proceeding to prohibit the distribution of violent

8 video programming during the hours when children are

9 reasonably likely to comprise a substantial portion of the

10 audience.

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

12 that is defined in section 718 of the Communications Act

13 of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 718), or in regulations under that sec14 tion, has the same meaning as when used in that section

15 or in those regulations.

16 SEC. 4. SEPARABILITY.

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

18 amendment made by this Act, or the application thereof

19 to particular persons or circumstances, is found to be un20 constitutional, the remainder of this Act or that amend21 ment, or the application thereof to other persons or cir22 cumstances shall not be affected.

23 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

24 The prohibition contained in section 718 of the Com25 munications Act of 1934 (as added by section 2 of this
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1 Act) and the regulations promulgated thereunder shall

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

3 Commission.

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