Family-Friendly Programming: Providing More Tools for Parents (2003)

Since then-Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission Newton Minow dubbed television a vast wasteland in 1961, the medium has changed dramatically. Consumers today have so many programs from which to choose that the complaint is rarely a lack of high-quality television shows. Rather, the concern for many consumers is how to navigate these teeming waters. This course-plotting can be a particular challenge for parents who desire to watch television together with their children. I therefore encourage the television industry to provide these parents more navigational tools. Consumers today have exponentially more viewing options, and they can choose from a remarkable array of programs, both on broadcast and on subscription television. They can view these programs using digital technology that produces a crisp, clear color picture far surpassing the fuzzy black-and-white world of 1961. Importantly, the burgeoning competition among television networks has resulted in some of the best programming ever produced. It also has enabled such diversity that niche channels, which devote 100% of their time to science, art, or history, can be successful. Television today, however, also presents some of the coarsest programming ever aired. Parents who want to watch television together with their children too often feel that, despite the increased number of viewing choices, they have too little to watch. Prime time on broadcast television has become less family friendly. Cable and Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS or satellite) do offer new family-oriented choices, but parents cannot subscribe to those channels alone. Rather, they must take the channels they do not want their families to view along with the Disney Channel and Discovery Channel. I believe it is time for our culture to rethink our approach to family-friendly programming. Parents should have the tools to help their children take advantage of the good that television can offer. Certainly, broadcasters, cable, and satellite operators enjoy significant First Amendment rights to choose the content they deliver to our homes. But these companies can take it upon themselves to improve the tools they provide parents, so that parents are able to enjoy the diversity television today has to offer, yet still protect their children from content they believe inappropriate for family viewing. I therefore propose two challenges to the industry: I urge broadcasters to create a Family Viewing Hour during the first hour of prime time. I also urge cable and satellite operators to offer a family-friendly programming package. Together, these steps would empower parents and enhance the value that television can offer. MARKETPLACE DEVELOPMENTS When Chairman Minow observed a vast wasteland, consumers generally had three choices for television programming--ABC, NBC, and CBS--and thus these three national broadcast networks dominated the television marketplace. (1) Even with the few independent stations available in some of the larger markets, television audiences were presented with a limited amount of viewing options. Cable television, formerly known as Community Antenna Television (or CATV), was still in its infancy; by 1963, about 1 million homes subscribed to cable, (2) but the service was largely used to extend the reach of broadcast signals, not to offer different programming. Over the last four decades, the television landscape has changed dramatically. Broadcast television options have grown considerably. Just since 1980, the number of full-power television stations has increased almost 70%. (3) With the introduction of the Fox Television network in 1986, the collection of dominant networks--once known as the Big Three--became referred to as the Big Four. The path then was paved for the entrance of additional new networks. In January 1995, the fifth and sixth networks were born: Turner Broadcasting System launched the WB Network, and Paramount Television launched the United Paramount Network (UPN). …