STATEMENT OF
CHAIRMAN JULIUS GENACHOWSKI
Re: Empowering Parents and Protecting Children in an Evolving Media Landscape, MB Docket No. 
09-194
Today’s Notice comes almost 20 years after enactment of the Children’s Television Act (CTA).   
The CTA was enacted by Congress in 1990 to serve the dual purposes of promoting educational and 
informational programming for children and placing limits on commercial advertising to which children 
are exposed while watching TV.
As I stated in my testimony before the Senate in July, revisiting the Act after almost two decades, 
three points stand out:  First, children remain our most precious national resource and it is as essential as 
ever to ensure that our kids are educated, healthy, and prepared for the 21st century, and that they are 
protected from commercial exploitation.
Second, television continues to have a powerful effect on our children, and broadcast television 
remains a unique medium, the exclusive source of video programming relied upon by millions of 
households, and a very significant source for millions of others.  The Commission’s responsibility to 
enforce the Children’s Television’s Act remains vital.  
Third, much has changed since the Act was passed in 1990.  The bottom line is that twenty years 
ago, parents worried about one or two TV sets in the house.  Today, children have access to a variety of 
media platforms, digital tv, computers, mobile phones and smart phones to name a few, and interact with 
them in ways that could not have been imagined in 1990. Multi-channel video programming has grown 
dramatically, significantly expanding the programming choices of viewers who can afford pay television.  
The Internet has vastly proliferated, with younger Americans as the leading edge.  Video games have 
become a prevalent entertainment source in millions of homes and a daily reality for millions of kids.   
Mobile services have increased significantly, with mobile devices becoming more and more 
commonplace for kids. 
I’m hopeful that the evolving media landscape will produce innovation and new business models 
to increase the amount of educational programming and content available to all children, and enhance the 
ability of parents to pick and choose.  Studies show that television – like Sesame Street, Sprout, and 
others -- can benefit children.  The Notice asks whether the Commission’s current rules implementing the 
CTA are effective in promoting the availability of educational and information content for the child 
audience and seeks comment on the quality and amount of such programming, among many other 
questions.
Today’s Notice also comes after our recent report on the Child Safe Viewing Act.  The 
proliferation of media devices available to children creates important concerns about the content to which 
children have access and the impact of that content.  
This Notice of Inquiry recognizes the importance of undertaking a comprehensive approach to 
assessing how children can best be served in the digital media landscape.  It will examine both the risks 
and the benefits of emerging media technologies.  We are seeking data and comments that will help us 
address these questions.
I am a firm believer in the role technology can play in people’s lives, and this is especially 
applicable to children.  But the explosion of new technologies has also significantly increased the 
availability of inappropriate content and elevated parents’ concerns.  The vital role of government in this 
media environment is therefore to empower parents and protect children, while honoring and abiding by 
the First Amendment.  Specifically, the Commission should work to ensure that parents have access to a 
full range of information and tools in exercising their essential responsibilities.  They should easily be 
able to find those tools, to learn about programming choices that educate, entertain and inform their 
children, and to take action they deem appropriate.   In a digital world, technology can and should be part 
of the solution.
But the Commission must also remain cognizant of the responsibilities and opportunities for the 
private sector as well.  This media landscape has the potential to produce innovation and new business 
models to increase the amount of educational programming and content available to all children, while 
enhancing parents’ ability to pick and choose.  We remain optimistic that the same ingenuity that has 
driven some of the remarkable innovations in media thus far will also be the creative spark that leads to 
new and powerful tools that will help parents protect their children and provide them with access to 
educational resources and programming options that best suit their children’s needs.  
The challenges of an emerging media landscape will only become more complex as technology 
continues to evolve, so it is essential that we enable parents to assist their children in harnessing the 
benefits of emerging media while protecting them from harmful content.  Accordingly, we must also 
determine whether improved media literacy can assist parents in this regard and whether existing literacy 
resources are sufficient to achieve these ends.   Knowledge is power, so the more we can do to help 
parents navigate this landscape the better.
The information that we are seeking is broad in its scope and in its range, but this data will help 
drive policy that will allow us to derive the maximum benefits from these emerging media technologies.  I 
am optimistic that this will help foster public and private solutions to the challenges that these 
technologies present.