ming standards on broadcast and cable television
have deteriorated dramatically.
(13) In the absence of effective programming
standards, public concern about the impact of tele-
vision on children, and on society as a whole, has
risen substantially. Polls routinely show that more
than 80 percent of Americans are worried by the in-
creasingly graphic nature of sex, violence, and vul-
garity on television and by the amount of program-
ming that openly sanctions or glorifies criminal,
antisocial, and degrading behavior.
(14) At the urging of Congress, the television
industry has taken some steps to respond to public
concerns about programming standards and content.
The broadcast television industry agreed in 1992 to
adopt a set of voluntary guidelines designed to ‘‘pro-
scribe gratuitous or excessive portrayals of violence’’.
Shortly thereafter, both the broadcast and cable tele-
vision industries agreed to conduct independent
studies of the violent content in their programming
and make those reports public.
(15) In 1996, the television industry as a whole
made a commitment to develop a comprehensive rat-
ing system to label programming that may be harm-
ful or inappropriate for children. That system was
implemented at the beginning of 1999.
(16) Despite these efforts to respond to public
concern about the impact of television on children,
millions of Americans, especially parents with young
children, remain angry and frustrated at the sinking
standards of television programming, the reluctance
of the industry to police itself, and the harmful in-
fluence of television on the well-being of the children
and the values of the United States.
(17) The Department of Justice issued a ruling
in 1993 indicating that additional efforts by the tele-
vision industry to develop and implement voluntary
programming guidelines would not violate the anti-
trust laws. The ruling states that ‘‘such activities
may be likened to traditional standard setting efforts
that do not necessarily restrain competition and may
have significant procompetitive benefits . . . Such
guidelines could serve to disseminate valuable infor-
mation on program content to both advertisers and
television viewers. Accurate information can enhance
the demand for, and increase the output of, an in-
dustry’s products or services.’’.
(18) The Children’s Television Act of 1990
(Public Law 101–437) states that television broad-
casters in the United States have a clear obligation
to meet the educational and informational needs of
children.
(19) Several independent analyses have dem-
onstrated that the television broadcasters in the
United States have not fulfilled their obligations
under the Children’s Television Act of 1990 and
have not noticeably expanded the amount of edu-
cational and informational programming directed at
young viewers since the enactment of that Act.
(20) The popularity of video and personal com-
puter (PC) games is growing steadily among chil-
dren. Although most popular video and personal
computer games are educational or harmless in na-
ture, many of the most popular are extremely vio-
lent. One recent study by Strategic Record Research
found that 64 percent of teenagers played video or
personal computer games on a regular basis. Other
surveys of children as young as elementary school
age found that almost half of them list violent com-
puter games among their favorites.
(21) Violent video games often present violence
in a glamorized light. Game players are often cast
in the role of shooter, with points scored for each
‘‘kill’’. Similarly, advertising for such games often
touts violent content as a selling point—the more
graphic and extreme, the better.
(22) As the popularity and graphic nature of
such video games grows, so do their potential to neg-
atively influence impressionable children.
(23) Music is another extremely pervasive and
popular form of entertainment. American children
and teenagers listen to music more than any other
demographic group. The Journal of American Medi-
cine reported that between the 7th and 12th grades
the average teenager listens to 10,500 hours of rock
or rap music, just slightly less than the entire num-
ber of hours spent in the classroom from kinder-
garten through high school.
(24) Teens are among the heaviest purchasers
of music, and are most likely to favor music genres
that depict, and often appear to glamorize violence.
(25) Music has a powerful ability to influence
perceptions, attitudes, and emotional state. The use
of music as therapy indicates its potential to in-
crease emotional, psychological, and physical health.
That influence can be used for ill as well.
SEC. 3. PURPOSES; CONSTRUCTION.
(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to per-
mit the entertainment industry—
(1) to work collaboratively to respond to grow-
ing public concern about television programming,
movies, video games, Internet content, and music
lyrics, and the harmful influence of such program-
ming, movies, games, content, and lyrics on children;
(2) to develop a set of voluntary programming
guidelines similar to those contained in the Tele-
vision Code of the National Association of Broad-
casters; and
(3) to implement the guidelines in a manner
that alleviates the negative impact of television pro-
gramming, movies, video games, Internet content,
and music lyrics on the development of children in
the United States and stimulates the development
and broadcast of educational and informational pro-
gramming for such children.
(b) CONSTRUCTION.—This Act may not be construed
as—
(1) providing the Federal Government with any
authority to restrict television programming, movies,
video games, Internet content, or music lyrics that
is in addition to the authority to restrict such pro-
gramming, movies, games, content, or lyrics under
law as of the date of the enactment of this Act; or
(2) approving any action of the Federal Govern-
ment to restrict such programming, movies, games,
content, or lyrics that is in addition to any actions
undertaken for that purpose by the Federal Govern-
ment under law as of such date.
SEC. 4. EXEMPTION OF VOLUNTARY AGREEMENTS ON
GUIDELINES FOR CERTAIN ENTERTAINMENT
MATERIAL FROM APPLICABILITY OF ANTI-
TRUST LAWS.
(a) EXEMPTION.—Subject to subsection (b), the anti-
trust laws shall not apply to any joint discussion, consider-
ation, review, action, or agreement by or among persons
in the entertainment industry for the purpose of devel-
oping and disseminating voluntary guidelines designed—
(1) to alleviate the negative impact of telecast
material, movies, video games, Internet content, and
music lyrics containing violence, sexual content,
criminal behavior, or other subjects that are not ap-
propriate for children; or
(2) to promote telecast material that is edu-
cational, informational, or otherwise beneficial to the
development of children.
(b) LIMITATION.—The exemption provided in sub-
section (a) shall not apply to any joint discussion, consid-
eration, review, action, or agreement which—
(1) results in a boycott of any person; or
(2) concerns the purchase or sale of advertising,
including (without limitation) restrictions on the
number of products that may be advertised in a
commercial, the number of times a program may be
interrupted for commercials, and the number of con-
secutive commercials permitted within each interrup-
tion.
(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:
(1) ANTITRUST
LAWS.—The term ‘‘antitrust
laws’’ has the meaning given such term in the first
section of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12) and in-
cludes section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission
Act (15 U.S.C. 45).
(2) INTERNET.—The term ‘‘Internet’’ means
the combination of computer facilities and electro-
magnetic transmission media, and related equipment
and software, comprising the interconnected world-
wide network of computer networks that employ the
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol or
any successor protocol to transmit information.
(3) MOVIES.—The term ‘‘movies’’ means theat-
rical motion pictures.
(4) PERSON IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUS-
TRY.—The term ‘‘person in the entertainment indus-
try’’ means a television network, any entity which
produces or distributes television programming (in-
cluding theatrical motion pictures), the National
Cable Television Association, the Association of
Independent Television Stations, Incorporated, the
National Association of Broadcasters, the Motion
Picture Association of America, each of the affiliate
organizations of the television networks, the Inter-
active Digital Software Association, any entity which
produces or distributes video games, the Recording
Industry Association of America, and any entity
which produces or distributes music, and includes
any individual acting on behalf of such person.
(5) TELECAST.—The term ‘‘telecast’’ means
any program broadcast by a television broadcast sta-
tion or transmitted by a cable television system.
Æ