I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2888
To require new television sets to have built-in circuitry to allow viewers
to block the display of programs rated violent.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AUGUST 5, 1993
Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. FIELDS of Texas, Ms.
MARGOLIES-MEZVINSKY, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. SLATTERY, Mr. HASTERT, Mr.
COOPER, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr. SYNAR, Ms. SHEPHERD, Mr. GLICKMAN, Ms.
SCHENK, and Mr. TOWNS) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To require new television sets to have built-in circuitry to
allow viewers to block the display of programs rated violent.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Television Violence Re-
duction Through Parental Empowerment Act of 1993’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) To the fullest extent possible, parents
should be empowered with the technology to choose
to block the display on their televisions of programs
they consider too violent for their children.
(2) Violence now touches the lives of American
children more than adults. From 1982 through
1984, teenagers were the victims of 1,800,000 vio-
lent crimes, twice the annual rate of the adult popu-
lation over age 20. According to the American Acad-
emy of Pediatrics, one of every 8 deaths among chil-
dren age 10–14 years old in 1990 was caused by a
shooting. Among teenagers and young adults, that
figure rose to one of every four deaths.
(3) Children watch an extensive amount of tele-
vision. It is estimated that a child watches approxi-
mately 22,000 hours of television before finishing
high school, almost twice the amount of time spent
in the classroom.
(4) The amount of violence on television has
reached epidemic levels. The American Psychological
Association estimates that the average child wit-
nesses 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence
before finishing elementary school.
(5) Three Surgeon Generals, the National Insti-
tute of Mental Health, the Centers for Disease Con-
trol, the American Medical Association, the Amer-
ican Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psy-
chological Association have concurred for nearly 20
years as to the deleterious effects of television vio-
lence on children.
(6) Despite periodic television industry efforts
to reduce the amount of television violence, reduc-
tions in the level of televised violence have never
been long lasting.
(7) Parents who are working are unable to con-
stantly monitor the television viewing habits of their
children. Advanced television technologies such as
channel compression and digitization will allow the
expansion of channel capacity to levels even more
unmanageable for parents who want to protect their
children from televised violence.
(8) The major broadcast networks and a large
number of cable channels have agreed to place pa-
rental advisories on programs they consider to be too
violent for children. These parental advisories are of
limited use to parents if they are not watching tele-
vision with their children.
(9) The technology currently exists to equip tel-
evision sets at a nominal cost to permit parents to
block the display of television programs they con-
sider too violent for children. However, this tech-
nology will only be effective (A) if all television pro-
grammers send any adopted rating or warning sys-
tem electronically with the program signal, and (B)
parents are able to block the display not only of in-
dividual programs but to block out automatically
and simultaneously all programs with such rating.
(10) Congress calls upon the broadcast net-
works, independent television stations, cable pro-
grammers, and satellite programmers to protect the
parental right to guide the television viewing habits
of children by sending any adopted rating or warn-
ing system electronically with the program signal.
SEC. 3. EQUIP TELEVISIONS TO BLOCK PROGRAMS.
Section 303 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47
U.S.C. 303) is amended by adding at the end thereof the
following:
‘‘(v) Require that (1) apparatus designed to receive
television signals be equipped with circuitry designed to
enable viewers to block the display of channels, programs,
and time slots; and (2) such apparatus enable viewers to
block display of all programs with a common rating. The
requirements of this subsection shall apply when such ap-
paratus is manufactured in the United States or imported
for use in the United States, and its television picture
screen is 13 inches or greater in size, measured diago-
nally.’’.