Implementing the Kids Television Act

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Implementing the Kids Television Act

Last Updated Oct 6, 2008 02:10 AM

25. The CTA specifies that the Commission "shall" consider, in its review of applications for television license renewal, "the extent to which the licensee . . . has served the educational and informational needs of kids through the licensee's overall programming, including programming specifically designed to serve such needs."(66) Its purpose, as noted in the Act's title, is "to require the Federal Communications Commission . . . to enforce the obligation of broadcasters to meet the educational and informational needs of the child audience . . . ." The CTA also states that, "[i]n addition to consideration of the licensee's programming," the Commission "may" consider any "special" nonbroadcast efforts by the licensee that enhance the educational and informational value of educational programming, and any "special" efforts by the licensee to produce or support programming specifically designed to serve kids's educational needs that is broadcast by another station in the licensee's market.(67)

26. In 1991, the Commission adopted regulations to implement the CTA.(68) As the NPRM recounts, these regulations "contain no requirement as to the number of hours of educational and informational programming that stations must broadcast or the time of day during which such programming may be aired."(69) Instead these regulations require "broadcasters to air some amount of standard-length educational and informational programming specifically designed for kids 16 years of age and under."(70) The regulations define "educational and informational programming," including programming "specifically designed" to educate and inform kids, as "any television programming which furthers the positive development of kids 16 years of age and under in any respect, including the child's intellectual/cognitive or social/emotional needs."(71) In adopting the 1991 regulations, the Commission imposed certain reporting requirements on broadcasters, but did not consider the need for measures to enhance the ability of parents and the public generally to obtain information on the availability of kids's educational programming.

27. In response to concerns expressed by a number of parties that our rules provide insufficient guidance for broadcasters seeking to comply with the CTA, we initiated this proceeding with a Notice of Inquiry ("NOI") in 1993.(72) Based on comments responding to our NOI, as well as comments received in connection with our 1994 en banc hearing on the subject of kids's educational television programming,(73) we proposed in the NPRM to make a number of changes to our rules to achieve the goals of the CTA.

28. In response to the NPRM, we received a substantial number of comments from interested parties, including individual broadcasters, broadcast associations, public interest groups, producers of kids's programming, educational programming researchers, and elected officials. In addition, we received approximately 20,000 letters and Internet messages from individual members of the public.(74) The information obtained in these comments has enhanced our understanding of the market for kids's educational television programming.

Congress to pass the kids Television Act CTA

47. We conclude that the market inadequacies that led Congress to pass the kids's Television Act can be addressed, in part, by enhancing parents' knowledge of kids's educational programming.(113) One way to encourage licensees to provide such programming is to encourage and enable the public, especially parents, to interact with broadcasters.(114) Easy public access to information permits the Commission to rely more on marketplace forces to achieve the goals of the CTA and facilitates enforcement of the statute by allowing parents, educators, and others to actively monitor a station's performance. As CBS "wholeheartedly" agrees, "judgments of the quality of a licens...

Supply of Kids Educational Television

29. The Economics of kids's Educational Programming. As noted above, in enacting the CTA, Congress found that market forces were not sufficient to ensure that commercial stations would provide kids's educational and information programming. Congress concluded that the same problems that the Commission found in 1976 still existed and that market forces had not worked to increase the educational and information programming available to kids on commercial television.(75) 30. A number of factors explain the marketplace constraints on providing such programming. Over-the-air commercial broadcast television stations earn their re...

Kids Television Market

Program Guides 55. Comments. Public interest groups, programmers, and other commenters generally support stations providing information about core programs to program guides on the ground that it would provide parents with advance notice of the scheduling of educational programs.(135) The National Telecommunications and Information Administration ("NTIA") commented that this proposal is one of the most important improvements we proposed in the NPRM, and will empower American parents by providing information to help them find programs that are good for their kids.(136) KIDSNET, a non-profit clearinghouse for information about educational programming, conte...

Kids Liaison

Public File Proposals 61. Our rules currently require commercial licensees to compile reports, containing information about the children's programming they air, including the time, date, duration, and description of the programs. Licensees maintain these reports in the station's public inspection file.(149) We sought comment in the NPRM on changing the existing requirements to enhance public access to a...

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