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 STATEMENT  OF  CHAIRMAN  MICHAEL  K.  POWELL 
 Re:  Children’s  Television  Obligations  of  Digital  Television  Broadcasters,  MM  Docket  No.  00-  167 
 This  Commission  is  committed  to  serving  the  educational  needs  of  our  nation’s  youth.  Not  only  are  our  children  the  cornerstone  of  our  future,  but  they  will,  too,  be  the  torch  bearers  that  bring  today’s 
 digital  migration  into  tomorrow’s  digital  reality. 
 As  a  parent  and  someone  who  has  a  passion  for  new  technologies,  I  am  proud  that  the  Commission  brings  the  benefits  of  the  digital  transition  to  America’s  children.  With  today’s  action,  more 
 children’s  educational  and  informational  programming  joins  the  growing  ranks  of  political,  sports,  news  and  information  and  high-  definition  programming  made  possible  by  advances  in  digital  broadcast 
 technology.  I  want  to  give  special  thanks  to  the  many  children’s  advocates,  most  notably  Children  NOW,  who  have  fought  so  hard  to  advance  the  interests  of  children. 


 In  1990,  Congress  passed  the  Children’s  Television  Act  to  ensure  broadcasters  were  serving  children’s  educational  and  informational  needs  through  their  programming  and  to  limit  the  amount  of 
 commercial  matter  that  may  be  aired  during  children’s  programming.  Today,  we  update  Congress’  requirements  for  the  digital  age.  At  a  time  where  broadcasters  using  the  public  airwaves  may  now  be  able 
 to  increase  their  programming  by  as  much  six  times  the  content  they  used  to,  so  too  should  their  obligations  to  serve  our  Nation’s  youth  increase. 


 We  substantially  increase  the  children’s  educational  and  informational  programming  obligations  for  digital  multicast  broadcasters.  We  also  put  in  place  significant  restrictions  on  worrisome  trends  of 
 increasing  commercialization  of  children’s  programming  on  both  analog  and  digital  broadcast  and  cable  systems.  Furthermore,  our  actions  are  designed  to  assist  parents  and  children  to  more  readily  identify 
 children’s  educational  and  informational  programming  by  advocating  uniform  E/  I  symbol  for  this  programming  that  must  remain  on  screen  throughout  the  program. 


 Parents  have  come  to  rely  on  children’s  programming  as  an  oasis  in  an  increasingly  commercial  world.  Today,  we  ensure  that  parents  have  a  clear  path  to  this  haven  in  the  digital  age. 
 This  is  just  one  step  this  Commission  takes  today  in  informing  our  children  of  the  promise  of  their  digital  future.  Later  today,  we  will  launch  a  kids-  page  on  our  website 
 (http://  www.  fcc.  gov/  cgb/  kidszone/)  to  provide  parents  with  teaching  tools  and  children  with  learning  tools  about  the  many  facets  of  communications  policy  that  touches  our  children’s  everyday  lives. 
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