[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 54 (Thursday, April 28, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4565-S4566]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WYDEN:
  S. 946. A bill to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require 
multi-channel video programming distributors to provide a kid-friendly 
tier of programming; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I strongly believe that parents in our 
country should have more wholesome entertainment choices for their 
children. To make that possible, I am today introducing legislation to 
require that cable and satellite owners allow parents to purchase a 
child-friendly tier of television programming.
  For years, the Congress and the Federal Communications Commission 
have labored, to little avail, to turn off offensive programming with a 
variety of technologies. My legislation would ensure that America's 
families, 24/7, could turn on programming that is reliably friendly to 
our children.
  While the legislation ensures that parents have more choices, the 
entertainment industry is assured that it has choices as well. Under 
the bill, Congress does not direct how the law is to be implemented. 
The Congress does not set prices. And the Congress does not take any 
step that is inconsistent with the first amendment.
  About the only part of the legislation that is nonnegotiable is my 
belief that Congress should not dawdle any longer when the volume of 
degrading, violent, and antisocial entertainment our children are 
exposed to continues to grow.
  Here is what America's parents deal with now. A recent study found 
that the average child in America has seen 8,000 murders depicted on 
television by the time they graduate from elementary school. Kids see 
about 10,000 television rapes, assaults, and murders each year. And in 
2004, Americans filed more than 1 million complaints with the Federal 
Communications Commission about indecent programming.
  Yesterday the National Cable and Telecommunications Association 
launched a new public service campaign to alert subscribers to parental 
control features that are already available and to introduce new larger 
TV rating icons. I haven't studied their proposal, but it certainly 
sounds constructive and I look forward to hearing more about their 
efforts.
  The legislation I am introducing today is a truly new approach that 
has teeth. It is going to give parents more kid-friendly entertainment 
choices that are easy to understand. The legislation would require that 
all cable and satellite operators within 1 year of enactment offer a 
kid-friendly tier of programming. It would require monthly billing 
statements to include information about how customers can use blocking 
technology to stop offensive programming. And it would impose big-
league fines of $500,000 a day on any cable or satellite operator who 
doesn't comply with the requirement that they give parents the chance 
to purchase kid-friendly programming. In this tier parents will know 
that there will be no content and no advertisements of a violent or 
sexual nature. Parents and adults who are not concerned about the 
current level of violence and sex on television would, of course, have 
access to those options with respect to current law.
  This proposal is the first to tell cable and satellite operators they 
must offer a kid-friendly television tier so parents have more choices. 
The legislation does not dictate how it must be accomplished. It only 
says this tier of kid-friendly programming must carry a number of 
channels.
  The legislation leaves it up to the operator whether to offer the 
kids tier as part of a basic or expanded basic package or as a 
completely separate package.

  Certainly there is going to be some opposition. But I believe good 
quality programming and an option for families could translate to 
pretty good profits for those cable and satellite providers. Parents 
are going to find this option very attractive. If children are watching 
TV 4 hours a day, you can bet mom and dad are not able to stand there 
the whole time. A kids tier is going to take the guesswork out of TV 
time for America's parents.
  Now there is an awful lot of guesswork. Time magazine found last 
month 53 percent of respondents said they thought the Federal 
Communications Commission ought to place stricter controls on broadcast 
channel shows depicting sex and violence. Sixty-eight percent of those 
surveyed said the entertainment industry has lost touch with viewers' 
moral standards. Sixty-six percent said there is too much violence on 
open air TV. Fifty-eight percent said there is too much cursing. Fifty 
percent said there is too much sexual content.
  I have worked to make sure that this legislation strikes an 
appropriate balance, offering choices to parents, not taking them away. 
A recent Pew Research survey found although 60 percent of Americans are 
very concerned about what kids see and hear on television, about half 
of those surveyed were more worried about the Government imposing undue 
restrictions and thought this was essentially the responsibility of the 
audience.
  So what we are doing here shows a balanced kind of approach in line 
with the kinds of values Americans are expressing. Don't make choices 
for parents, but help parents make good choices for their children. 
With 8 out of 10 American households getting their television through 
cable or satellite programmers, it is time that parents be given the 
chance to sign up for programming that works for their family.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                 S. 946

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Kid Friendly TV Programming 
     Act of 2005''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       The Congress finds the following:
       (1) More than a decade ago, the American Psychological 
     Society concluded that ``There is absolutely no doubt that 
     higher levels of viewing violence on television are

[[Page S4566]]

     correlated with increased acceptance of aggressive attitudes 
     and increased aggressive behavior.''
       (2) A study in 2003 found that adults who were ``high TV-
     violence viewers'' as children are more than three-to-four 
     times as likely as other adults to be convicted of a crime 
     and to use violence against their spouses and other adults.
       (3) Adults who watched more violent programming as children 
     were more likely to be arrested and convicted for spousal and 
     child abuse, murder and aggravated assault.
       (4) Ten percent of violent acts committed by youths are 
     attributable to their exposure to violence on television.
       (5) Forty percent of parents surveyed in l999 in Rhode 
     Island reported that at least one symptom of post-traumatic 
     stress disorder occurred after their child viewed a scary 
     event on television, and that this symptom lasted at least 1 
     month.
       (6) The average child who watches 2 hours of cartoons a day 
     will view almost 10,000 violent acts a year.
       (7) Teenagers who watched television with the greatest 
     amount of sexual content were twice as likely to initiate 
     sexual intercourse the following year as those who watched 
     television with the least amount of sexual content.
       (8) The Kaiser Family Foundation reported in 2002 that 72 
     percent of teenagers think sex on television influences 
     ``somewhat'' or ``a lot'' the sexual behavior of their peers.
       (9) The Kaiser Family Foundation reported in 2003 that 64 
     percent of all television shows have some sexual content, and 
     that in prime time, 71 percent of the top 4 broadcast network 
     shows have some sexual content.
       (10) The continued exposure of children to obscene, 
     indecent, sexual, or gratuitous or excessively violent 
     content on television is harmful to the public health and 
     welfare of communities across the country.
       (11) Efforts to limit the exposure of children to 
     television programming that contains material with obscene, 
     indecent, violent, or sexual content, or to impose fines and 
     penalties for the broadcast of such content, have not been 
     successful in protecting children from harmful content.
       (12) The number of homes in the United States that receive 
     television programming via cable or satellite providers is 
     estimated to have grown to 85 percent of American households, 
     and of that percentage, an estimated 95 percent of the 
     households subscribe to basic or expanded basic programs.
       (13) The efforts to limit the exposure of children to 
     harmful television content have not been successful because 
     Federal regulatory agencies have not had the authority to 
     require cable and satellite providers to offer a child-
     friendly tier of programming.
       (14) Parents need more effective ways to limit the exposure 
     of children to television with harmful content through 
     alternative, child-friendly tiers of programs.

     SEC. 3. BASIC TIER CONTENT RESTRICTIONS.

       Part IV of title VI of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
     U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
     following:

     ``SEC. 641. KID-FRIENDLY PROGRAMMING TIER.

       ``(a) In General.--Within 1 months after the date of 
     enactment of the Kid Friendly TV Programming Act of 2005, 
     each multichannel video programming distributor shall offer a 
     child-friendly tier of programming consisting of no fewer 
     than 15 channels.
       ``(b) Blocking Instructions.--Beginning 6 months after the 
     date of enactment of the Kid Friendly TV Programming Act of 
     2005, each multichannel video programming distributor shall 
     provide, as part of the monthly statement of charges, 
     instructions for how to block any channel whose content a 
     subscriber may wish to block.
       ``(c) Penalties.--In addition to any other penalty imposed 
     under this Act or title 18, United States Code, failure to 
     comply with the requirements of this section is punishable by 
     a civil penalty of up to $500,000 per day. Each day of such 
     failure shall be considered a separate offense.
       ``(d) Child-friendly Defined.--In this section, the term 
     `child-friendly tier' means a group of channels that do not 
     carry programming, advertisements, or public service 
     announcements that would be considered inappropriate for 
     children due to obscene, indecent, profane, sexual, or 
     gratuitous and excessively violent content.''.
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