Sec. 551. PARENTAL CHOICE IN TELEVISION PROGRAMMING
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## SEC. 551 PARENTAL CHOICE IN TELEVISION PROGRAMMING ###
(a)Findings **[**[47 U.S.C. 303](/us/usc/t47/s303) nt**]** The Congress makes the following findings: ####
(1)Television influences children's perception of the values and behavior that are common and acceptable in society. ####
(2)Television station operators, cable television system operators, and video programmers should follow practices in connection with video programming that take into consideration that television broadcast and cable programming has established a uniquely pervasive presence in the lives of American children. ####
(3)The average American child is exposed to 25 hours of television each week and some children are exposed to as much as 11 hours of television a day. ####
(4)Studies have shown that children exposed to violent video programming at a young age have a higher tendency for violent and aggressive behavior later in life than children not so exposed, and that children exposed to violent video programming are prone to assume that acts of violence are acceptable behavior. ####
(5)Children in the United States are, on average, exposed to an estimated 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence on television by the time the child completes elementary school. ####
(6)Studies indicate that children are affected by the pervasiveness and casual treatment of sexual material on television, eroding the ability of parents to develop responsible attitudes and behavior in their children. ####
(7)Parents express grave concern over violent and sexual video programming and strongly support technology that would give them greater control to block video programming in the home that they consider harmful to their children. ####
(8)There is a compelling governmental interest in empowering parents to limit the negative influences of video programming that is harmful to children. ####
(9)Providing parents with timely information about the nature of upcoming video programming and with the technological tools that allow them easily to block violent, sexual, or other programming that they believe harmful to their children is a nonintrusive and narrowly tailored means of achieving that compelling governmental interest. ###
(b)Establishment of Television Rating Code ####
(1)* * * * * * * * * * ####
(2)Advisory committee requirements **[**[47 U.S.C. 303](/us/usc/t47/s303) nt**]** In establishing an advisory committee for purposes of the amendment made by paragraph (1)3 of this subsection, the Commission shall— 3Paragraph
(1)of subsection
(b)added subsection
(w)to section 303 of the Communications Act of 1934. #####
(A)ensure that such committee is composed of parents, television broadcasters, television programming producers, cable operators, appropriate public interest groups, and other interested individuals from the private sector and is fairly balanced in terms of political affiliation, the points of view represented, and the functions to be performed by the committee; #####
(B)provide to the committee such staff and resources as may be necessary to permit it to perform its functions efficiently and promptly; and #####
(C)require the committee to submit a final report of its recommendations within one year after the date of the appointment of the initial members. * * * * * * * ###
(e)Applicability and Effective Dates **[**[47 U.S.C. 303](/us/usc/t47/s303) nt**]** ####
(1)Applicability of rating provision The amendment made by subsection (b)3 of this section shall take effect 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, but only if the Commission determines, in consultation with appropriate public interest groups and interested individuals from the private sector, that distributors of video programming have not, by such date— #####
(A)established voluntary rules for rating video programming that contains sexual, violent, or other indecent material about which parents should be informed before it is displayed to children, and such rules are acceptable to the Commission; and #####
(B)agreed voluntarily to broadcast signals that contain ratings of such programming. ####
(2)Effective date of manufacturing provision In prescribing regulations to implement the amendment made by subsection (c),4 the Federal Communications Commission shall, after consultation with the television manufacturing industry, specify the effective date for the applicability of the requirement to the apparatus covered by such amendment, which date shall not be less than two years after the date of enactment of this Act. 4Subsection
(c)added subsection
(x)to section 303 of the Communications Act of 1934.
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Sec. 551
PARENTAL CHOICE IN TELEVISION PROGRAMMING
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