The Children’s Television Act was enacted in 1990.
“Things have changed a lot in the 29 years since,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai began in offering an explanation as to why, in the majority Republican view of the Commission, “modernization” of its KidVid rules — a passion point of GOP Commissioner Mike O’Rielly for more than a year — needed to come today.
“Babies born when the Act was passed are now having children of their own,” Pai said in delivering his formal statement in approval of the Report and Order. “Media that did not exist in 1990, most notably the commercial internet and online streaming services, have completely transformed what we watch, how we watch, and when we watch it.”
As such, it is this explosion in choice of content and distribution, which he acknowledges has benefited children, that merits a rewrite of the KidVid rules.
Today, households have access “to far more educational programming across all these platforms than was imaginable in 1990.”
This, Pai noted, has also resulted in a massive shift in children’s viewing habits.
“As most parents (including me) know, rather than viewing programming live on broadcast TV, most children now watch educational content on non-broadcast platforms, and they prefer to do so,” Pai said. “For example, the evidence in the record indicates that the educational programs aired on CBS and NBC owned-and-operated and affiliated stations average only 57,000 young viewers, which is less than one-tenth of one percent of the children in the United States.”
Pai added this factoid: “about two-thirds of the viewers of these children’s shows are over the age of 55, which actually isn’t surprising if you’ve seen the commercials that air during these programs.”
Unfortunately, in the view of Pai, O’Rielly and the FCC’s third Republican Commissioner, Brendan Carr, “one thing hasn’t changed to reflect the times: the FCC’s regulations implementing the Act.”
Pai continued, “Despite some revisions throughout the decades, the bulk of our KidVid rules remain trapped in amber, stuck in a time when classrooms had maps showing the Soviet Union and Bill Nye the Science Guy had yet to air a single episode.”
Until today, that is.
“Thanks to Commissioner O’Rielly’s efforts, we are finally modernizing our KidVid rules to better reflect today’s media marketplace,” Pai said in salute to his colleague. “This item gives broadcasters more flexibility in satisfying their obligations under the Act, while also ensuring that consumers who rely on over-the-air television can access educational programming. Indeed, even setting aside all of the children’s educational programming now available on cable television and over the Internet, there is now a plethora of such programming available over-the-air.”
Pai pointed to PBS KIDS, which airs children’s programming over a multicast stream on a 24/7 basis. Additionally, broadcast network ION airs 111 hours of children’s educational programming through its Qubo multicast stream.
“None of this existed when the Commission first adopted rules implementing the Children’s Television Act, and none of this will be impacted by our actions today,” Pai said in calling the report and order’s actions “balanced and modest,” rather than bold and aggressive.
“For example, we allow broadcasters to satisfy some of their Core Programming obligations—the easiest way for them to comply with our children’s television rules—through specials and short-form programming,” he said. “For those of us who remember ABC Afterschool Specials and Schoolhouse Rock, this hardly seems like a radical innovation. We are simply acknowledging that one-size-fits-all, 30-minute programming is not the only effective means to provide educational programming for children. In fact, judging from the much-shorter episodes of streamed shows like Octonauts and StoryBots that my kids consume, they’re not even the primary means these days.”
Pai also said the use of multicast streams to satisfy a minority of their Core Programming requirement “makes sense because multicast channels are available for free to consumers who exclusively rely on over-the-air viewing—those who don’t have access to children’s educational program on cable channels.”
Pai concluded, “I welcome these common-sense reforms, which allow broadcasters flexibility to compete in today’s marketplace while also serving the public interest. There is certainly more room to update our KidVid rules, but this is a positive first step forward.
