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 STATEMENT  OF  COMMISSIONER  MICHAEL  J.  COPPS 
 Re:  Children’s  Television  Obligations  of  Digital  Television  Broadcasters 
 In  the  Children’s  Television  Act,  Congress  directed  the  Commission  to  protect  children  against  excessive  advertisements  on  television  and  required  the  Commission  to 
 consider  during  the  license  renewal  process  whether  a  station’s  programming  has  served  the  educational  and  informational  needs  of  children.  This  is  absolutely  vital.  Television 
 plays  such  an  enormous  role  in  children’s  development.  The  average  child  will  have  watched  well  over  10,000  hours  of  television  and  been  bombarded  with  hundreds  of 
 thousands  of  commercials  before  he  or  she  reaches  adulthood.  Television  has  vast  and  growing  powers  to  educate  and  inform  —  or  to  misinform  in  sometimes  harmful  ways. 


 One  important  responsibility  that  we  on  this  Commission  have  is  to  make  sure,  as  best  we  can,  that  everyone  –  certainly  including  the  kids—  can  harvest  the  full  benefits  of 
 digital  television.  I  commend  those  who  met  to  formulate  the  proposals  that  are  the  subject  of  today’s  further  notice.  Groups  such  as  Children  Now,  the  American 
 Psychological  Association,  the  American  Academy  of  Pediatrics,  the  National  PTA,  the  United  Church  of  Christ,  the  Action  Coalition  for  Media  Education  and  the  Institute  for 
 Public  Representation  at  Georgetown  University,  as  well  as  representatives  from  broadcast  networks  and  cable  channels,  worked  long  and  hard  to  reach  these  joint 
 recommendations. 
 The  ball  is  in  our  court  now  to  move  forward  as  expeditiously  as  possible  to  complete  this  proceeding.  I  am  hopeful  we  will  do  just  that.  But  that’s  not  all  we  need  to 
 do.  Let’s  remember  that,  in  the  children’s  TV  order  adopted  in  September  2004,  we  also  committed  to  issuing  a  report  addressing  how  well  the  objectives  set  by  Congress  in  the 
 Children’s  Television  Act  are  being  met.  We  should  all  be  concerned—  even  disturbed—  when  independent  reports  find  that  one-  fourth  of  the  educational  and  informational 
 programming  served  up  to  our  children  has  little  educational  value.  Likewise,  we  should  all  be  concerned  when  a  recent  study  by  the  Parents  Television  Council  demonstrates  that 
 there  are  nearly  eight  violent  incidents  per  hour  on  children’s  shows  –  more  than  during  primetime.  Think  about  that  one  for  a  moment! 


 Once  again,  I  point  out  how  much  work  is  left  undone  regarding  the  more  general  public  interest  obligations  of  DTV  broadcasters.  As  an  initial  step,  we  need  promptly  to 
 complete  our  proceeding  on  disclosure  of  broadcaster  activities.  And  the  Commission  is  long  overdue  to  address  the  full  range  of  public  interest  issues  that  we  teed  up  six  years 
 ago,  including,  among  others,  how  the  digital  transition  can  enhance  political  discourse,  improve  access  to  the  media  for  those  with  disabilities,  and  increase  localism,  diversity 
 and  competition  on  the  people’s  airwaves.  I  would  like  to  think  that  this  example  of  discussions  and  a  joint  proposal  by  diverse  interested  parties  that  we  are  talking  about 
 today  in  the  children’s  television  item  can  serve  as  a  model  for  these  other  proceedings.  We  really  can’t  delay  any  longer  in  bringing  some  certainty  for  both  broadcasters  and  the 
 public.  It  is  not  enough  for  us  to  address  only  the  mechanics  of  the  DTV  transition. 
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 More  important  by  far  is  determining  how  this  transition  is  to  serve  the  broad  interests  of  American  viewers  and  listeners.  With  a  full  complement  of  Commissioners  soon  to  be 
 aboard,  these  questions  deserve  the  full  attention  of  the  Commission. 
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