I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1390
To provide means of limiting the exposure of children to violent programming
on television, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 4, 1995
Mr. JACOBS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Commerce
A BILL
To provide means of limiting the exposure of children to
violent programming on television, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘Childrens’ Media Pro-
tection Act of 1995’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) On average, a child in the United States is
exposed to 27 hours of television each week, and
some children are exposed to as much as 11 hours
of television each day.
(2) The average American child watches 8,000
murders and 100,000 acts of other violence on tele-
vision by the time the child completes elementary
school.
(3) By the age of 18 years, the average Amer-
ican teenager has watched 200,000 acts of violence
on television, including 40,000 murders.
(4) The Times Mirror Center reports that a re-
cent poll of Americans indicates that 72 percent of
the American people believe that there is too much
violence on television, and, according to a survey by
U.S. News and World Report dated May 1994, 91
percent of American voters believe that mayhem in
the media contributes to violence in real life.
(5) On several occasions since 1975, The Jour-
nal of the American Medical Association has alerted
the medical community to the adverse effects of tele-
vised violence on child development, including an in-
crease in the level of aggressive behavior and violent
behavior among children who view it.
(6) The National Commission on Children rec-
ommended in 1991 that producers of television pro-
grams exercise greater restraint in the content of
programming for children.
(7) A report of the Harry Frank Guggenheim
Foundation, dated May 1993, indicates that there is
an irrefutable connection between the amount of vio-
lence depicted in the television programs watched by
children and increased aggressive behavior among
children.
(8) It is in the National interest that parents
be empowered with the technology to block the view-
ing of television programs whose content is overly
violent or objectionable for other reasons.
(9) Technology currently exists to permit the
manufacture of television receivers that are capable
of permitting parents to block television programs
having violent or otherwise objectionable content.
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF TELEVISION VIOLENCE RAT-
ING CODE.
Section 303 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47
U.S.C. 303) is amended by adding at the end the follow-
ing:
‘‘(v) Prescribe, in consultation with television broad-
casters, cable operators, appropriate public interest
groups, and interested individuals from the private sector,
rules for rating the level of violence in television program-
ming, including rules for the transmission by television
broadcast systems and cable systems of signals containing
specifications for blocking violent programming.’’.
SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT FOR MANUFACTURE OF TELE-
VISIONS THAT BLOCK PROGRAMS.
Section 303 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47
U.S.C. 303), as amended by section 3, is further amended
by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(w) Require, in the case of apparatus designed to
receive television signals that are manufactured in the
United States or imported for use in the United States
and that have a picture screen 13 inches or greater in
size (measured diagonally), that such apparatus—
‘‘(1) be equipped with circuitry designed to en-
able viewers to block the display of channels, pro-
grams, and time slots; and
‘‘(2) enable viewers to block display of all pro-
grams with a common rating.’’.
SEC. 5. SHIPPING OR IMPORTING OF TELEVISIONS THAT
BLOCK PROGRAMS.
(a) REGULATIONS.—Section 330 of the Communica-
tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 330) is amended—
(1) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub-
section (d); and
(2) by adding after subsection (b) the following
new subsection (c):
‘‘(c)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), no per-
son shall ship in interstate commerce, manufacture, as-
semble, or import from any foreign country into the
United States any apparatus described in section 303(w)
of this Act except in accordance with rules prescribed by
the Commission pursuant to the authority granted by that
section.
‘‘(2) This subsection shall not apply to carriers trans-
porting apparatus referred to in paragraph (1) without
trading it.
‘‘(3) The rules prescribed by the Commission under
this subsection shall provide performance standards for
blocking technology. Such rules shall require that all such
apparatus be able to receive the rating signals which have
been transmitted by way of line 21 of the vertical blanking
interval and which conform to the signal and blocking
specifications established by the Commission.
‘‘(4) As new video technology is developed, the Com-
mission shall take such action as the Commission deter-
mines appropriate to ensure that blocking service contin-
ues to be available to consumers.’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 330(d) of
such Act, as redesignated by subsection (a)(1), is amended