millions of households.6 Allowing broadcasters to shelve children's content on multicast stations with minimal viewership would significantly limit the likelihood that this content will reach the young people it is intended to benefit. The Commission should not permit broadcasters to shift content from primary to sparsely viewed secondary stations. Your proposal would further limit access to the content kids rely on by requiring only two-thirds of content to be regularly scheduled. Today, much of the programming aired by broadcasters is not meant for children, and parents should be able to know exactly when age-appropriate and informational shows will run. Educational shows are of no benefit to kids if families do not know when to tune in. In light of this concern, we request that you maintain the requirement that broadcasters air all Kid Vid programming on a regularly scheduled basis. Your draft order contains several other changes that, if implemented, would further limit children's access to educational content intended for them. Such problematic changes include extending the time frame when required children' s content can be aired into early morning hours and allowing broadcasters to air only three hours of educational content total per week across all of their stations, rather than three hours on each station airing content. Neither of these changes would help kids to access vital educational content, and we call on you to reconsider these revisions. In exchange for free access to the airwaves, broadcasters, among other public interest obligations, are required to air a mere three hours per week-less than two percent of their totai broadcast time-of educational children's content. This should remain the rule. Thank you for your attention to this important matter. Sincerely, ~ ,LJ:~"l...,4J.. ~~-~,,,.~ Edward J. Mark~ - Kirsten Gillibrand United States Senator United States Senator States Senator 6 Television Bureau of Advertising, Digital Subchannels and Diginents, (May, 2017), https://www.tvb.org/Default.aspx?TabID= l 535. 2 k?/#~--hl/2,t Richard Blumenthal United States Senator Sherrod Brown Ron Wyden United States Senator United States Senator CC: The Honorable Michael O'Rielly, The Honorable Brendan Carr The Honorable Jessica Rosenworcel The Honorable Geoffrey Starks 3