CHILDREN'S TELEVISION ACT OF 1990
Statute Compilation
United States House of Representatives
Office of the Legislative Counsel
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Children's Television Act of 1990
National Endowment for Children's Educational Television Act of 1990
934
101
1990-10-18
CHILDREN'S TELEVISION ACT OF 1990
[Currency: This publication is a compilation of the text of Public Law 101–437. It was last amended by the public law listed in the As Amended Through note above and below at the bottom of each page of the pdf version and reflects current law through the date of the enactment of the public law listed at https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/comps/]
[Note: While this publication does not represent an official version of any Federal statute, substantial efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of its contents. The official version of Federal law is found in the United States Statutes at Large and in the United States Code. The legal effect to be given to the Statutes at Large and the United States Code is established by statute (1 U.S.C. 112, 204).]

AN ACT
To require the Federal Communications Commission to reinstate restrictions on advertising during children's television, to enforce the obligation of broadcasters to meet the educational and informational needs of the child audience, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

short title
Section 1.
This Act may be cited as the “Children's Television Act of 1990”.1
^1
Public Law 101–437, 104 Stat. 996, approved Oct. 18, 1990.
TITLE I—

REGULATION OF CHILDREN'S TELEVISION FINDINGS
Sec. 101.
[47 U.S.C. 303a note]
The Congress finds that—
(1)
it has been clearly demonstrated that television can assist children to learn important information, skills, values, and behavior, while entertaining them and exciting their curiosity to learn about the world around them;
(2)
as part of their obligation to serve the public interest, television station operators and licensees should provide programming that serves the special needs of children;
(3)
the financial support of advertisers assists in the provision of programming to children;
(4)
special safeguards are appropriate to protect children from overcommercialization on television;
(5)
television station operators and licensees should follow practices in connection with children's television programming and advertising that take into consideration the characteristics of this child audience; and
(6)
it is therefore necessary that the Federal Communications Commission (hereinafter referred to as the “Commission”) take the actions required by this title.

standards for children's television programming
Sec. 102.
[47 U.S.C. 303a]
(a)
The Commission shall, within 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, initiate a rulemaking proceeding to prescribe standards applicable to commercial television broadcast licensees with respect to the time devoted to commercial matter in conjunction with children's television programming. The Commission shall, within 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, complete the rulemaking proceeding and prescribe final standards that meet the requirements of subsection (b).
(b)
Except as provided in subsection (c), the standards prescribed under subsection (a) shall include the requirement that each commercial television broadcast licensee shall limit the duration of advertising in children's television programming to not more than 10.5 minutes per hour on weekends and not more than 12 minutes per hour on weekdays.
(c)
After January 1, 1993, the Commission—
(1)
may review and evaluate the advertising duration limitations required by subsection (b); and
(2)
may, after notice and public comment and a demonstration of the need for modification of such limitations, modify such limitations in accordance with the public interest.
(d)
As used in this section, the term “commercial television broadcast licensee” includes a cable operator, as defined in section 602 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522).

CONSIDERATION OF CHILDREN'S TELEVISION SERVICE IN BROADCAST LICENSE RENEWAL
Sec. 103.
[47 U.S.C. 303b]
(a)
After the standards required by section 102 are in effect, the Commission shall, in its review of any application for renewal of a commercial or noncommercial television broadcast license, consider the extent to which the licensee—
(1)
has complied with such standards; and
(2)
has served the educational and informational needs of children through the licensee's overall programming, including programming specifically designed to serve such needs.
(b)
In addition to consideration of the licensee's programming as required under subsection (a), the Commission may consider—
(1)
any special nonbroadcast efforts by the licensee which enhance the educational and informational value of such programming to children; and
(2)
any special efforts by the licensee to produce or support programming broadcast by another station in the licensee's marketplace which is specifically designed to serve the educational and informational needs of children.

program length commercial matter
Sec. 104.
Within 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall complete the proceeding known as “Revision of Programming and Commercialization Policies, Ascertainment Requirements and Program Log Requirements for Commercial Television Stations”, MM Docket No. 83–670.
TITLE II—

ENDOWMENT FOR CHILDREN'S EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION

short title
Sec. 201.
[47 U.S.C. 609 note]
This title may be cited as the “National Endowment for Children's Educational Television Act of 1990”.

findings
Sec. 202.
[47 U.S.C. 394 note]
The Congress finds that—
(1)
children in the United States are lagging behind those in other countries in fundamental intellectual skills, including reading, writing, mathematics, science, and geography;
(2)
these fundamental skills are essential for the future governmental and industrial leadership of the United States;
(3)
the United States must act now to greatly improve the education of its children;
(4)
television is watched by children about three hours each day on average and can be effective in teaching children;
(5)
educational television programming for children is aired too infrequently either because public broadcast licensees and permittees lack funds or because commercial broadcast licensees and permittees or cable television system operators do not have the economic incentive; and
(6)
the Federal Government can assist in the creation of children's educational television by establishing a National Endowment for Children's Educational Television to supplement the children's educational programming funded by other governmental entities.

national endowment for children's educational television
Sec. 203.1
^1
This section added a new subpart B to part IV of title III of the Communications Act of 1934, and made additional conforming changes in that Act, and is reflected in the part of this compilation containing that Act.