Saturday, July 12, 1997

Expansion of TV rating system approved

c.1997 Religion News Service

(RNS) To rate or not to rate is no longer the question.

But how to rate TV fare has been the question for the past six months.

It was answered Wednesday (July 9) in an agreement between Congress, the TV industry and parental and children's advocacy groups, beating the July 14 deadline when the Federal Communications Commission is to hold its first hearing on the effectiveness of the industry's six-month-old rating system.

The TV industry, under pressure from a wide range of critics, agreed in principle in a Washington meeting to revamp its fledgling ratings system to give parents more information to shield children from sex, violence and potentially offensive language.

But one major player - NBC, the top-rated network in prime time - refused to participate. "There is no place for government involvement in what people watch on television," NBC said in a statement.

And among the advocacy groups, one - the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America - said it would oppose the new system because it was still "too vague and too broad" to effectively inform parents about what programs contain.

The American Psychiatric Association, involved in the negotiations, and some small, unidentified cable companies, also balked, the Associated Press reported.

NBC aside, the rest of the industry will make changes effective Oct. 1 that include:

- In addition to the current age-based ratings of G, PG, TV-14 and MA, networks will label shows with V (violence), S (sexual content), L (strong language) and D (suggestive dialogue).

- Warning icons in the top left of the screen will be larger and and last longer.

- For children's shows, Y will continue to denote shows for all youth, Y-7 for ages 7 and up. An FV label will flag cartoons and other shows containing fantasy violence.

- Parents will join a ratings review committee now composed only of industry members.

The agreement was signed Thursday (July 10) and formally introduced at a White House news conference presided over by Vice President Al Gore.

In return for its cooperation, the broadcast industry received assurances in a letter signed by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., Trent Lott, R-Miss., and several other senators promising to oppose any legislation that would impose ratings.

McCain also promised to block any legislation that would make TV stations and cable networks air more family-friendly shows. McCain added, however, that the assurances would not extend to NBC and other networks not participating in the agreement.

Meanwhile, the Screen Actors Guild, the Directors Guild of America and the Writers Guild of America have threatened to file a lawsuit against the revamped ratings, citing free speech concerns. Also, they argued that the current system has not been given enough time to work.

Eventually, viewers will be able to program their sets to block out shows by using the recently mandated V-chip.