Kid

Kids Educational Television

Last Updated Oct 5, 2008 02:48 PM

18. The Commission has no independent information about the amount of kids's programming aired following the 1984 Report decision. According to one commenter, however, the three major networks collectively aired more than 11 hours per week (individually about 3.7 hours per week) of kids's educational programming in 1980.(50) NAB states that broadcasters averaged two hours per station in 1990, and 3.6 hours per station in 1993.(51)

19. In 1984, the Commission also repealed the commercial guidelines for kids's programming.(52) In 1987, the D.C. Circuit ruled that there was no evidence to support the Commission's decision and remanded it to the Commission for further explanation of its decision to eliminate its "longstanding kids's television commercialization guidelines."(53) The court found no reasoned basis for the Commission to alter its policy regarding commercialization.

20. The Commission responded to the remand by issuing a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Notice of Inquiry seeking comment on the issue of commercialization guidelines for kids's television.(54) The Commission took no further action on kids's television issues until after Congress enacted the CTA in 1990. The Senate Report on the CTA cited the Commission's 1984 decisions as precipitating factors in the enactment of the CTA.(55)

21. Congress enacted the CTA both to impose limitations on the number of commercials shown during kids's programs and to make clear that the FCC could not rely solely on market forces to increase the educational and informational programming available to kids on commercial television. While recognizing that commercial television did provide some "meritorious" programming, the Senate Report stated that "when viewed as a whole, there is disturbingly little educational of informational programming on commercial television."(56) The Report went on to note:

The same problems with kids's programming that the FCC found in 1976 exist today. Market forces have not worked to increase the educational and informational programming available to kids on commercial television.(57)

22. In enacting the CTA Congress clearly stated its objective. The Senate Report expressly notes that the "objective of this legislation is to increase the amount of educational and informational broadcast television available to kids."(58) Congress sought to accomplish this objective by placing on each and every licensee an obligation to provide educational and informational programming, including programming specifically designed to educate and inform kids, and by requiring the FCC to enforce that obligation. This is evident from the plain text of the CTA, which states that the FCC "shall, in its review of any application for renewal of a commercial or noncommercial television broadcast license, consider 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."(59)

23. The Senate Report explains the statute's language by noting that the CTA explicitly requires the FCC "to consider at the time of license renewal whether the licensee has provided programming specifically designed to meet the educational and informational needs of pre-school and school-age kids."(60) On the floor of the House of Representatives, Congressman Lent made the same point: "Of course, TV stations already are required to serve their child audiences. But now, the FCC will be directed to gauge whether TV stations are actually meeting that obligation."(61) The Senate Report emphasized the newly codified obligation of broadcasters to provide kids's educational programming:

As part of their public interest obligation, broadcasters can and indeed must be required to render public service to kids. kids are the bedrock upon which our society rests. See Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158, 168 (1943). As demonstrated elsewhere in this report, kids watch a great deal of television, especially before they start school, and are greatly influenced by this medium. Under these circumstances, the broadcaster as a public fiduciary must provide programming specifically designed to serve the informational and educational needs of kids.(62)

24. The Senate Report also makes clear that Congress intended "to require broadcasters to provide programming specifically designed for pre-school and school-aged kids because of the overwhelming evidence that such programming has the most impact on kids's development. . . . Each broadcaster must demonstrate that it has served its child audience with programming which is designed to meet the unique educational and informational needs of kids, taking into account the special characteristics of various segments of the child population in order to have their license renewed."(63) Although Congress required each broadcast television licensee to submit a showing to the FCC that it has reasonably met its obligation to provide such programming, the legislative history also notes that Congress intended to allow broadcasters flexibility in determining how to meet their obligation to kids.(64) Thus, Congress indicated that the FCC could consider general audience programming in addition to programs specifically designed for kids's educational and informational needs.(65)

See also Kid 679 1 - 7