Rosenworcel On FCC Kids TV Changes: ‘A Cruel Disregard For Children’

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, the only Democrat on the short-handed FCC, forcefully dissented from the majority decision’s today to launch a rulemaking aimed at giving broadcasting more flexibility in meeting their statutory obligation to provide educational programming to children.

Rather than a rulemaking, Rosenworcel said that FCC should have opted for an inquiry in which the agency could have explored more deeply the needs of children and how broadcasters could address them.

The short-cut rulemaking is inadequate, she said in casting her no vote.

“This is not the effort our children deserve. It takes the values in the Children’s Television Act and instead of modernizing them for the digital age, seeks to discard them with a cruel disregard for the children left behind.”

As it is, she said, the rulemaking “all but announces where we are headed — a future with less quality children’s programming that is also harder for families to locate and watch.”

The rulemaking seems more concerned with easing the regulatory burden on broadcasters and the needs of parents, she said.

‘While I support updating our policies under the Children’s Television Act, I believe what we have fails to do so in a way that accurately reflects some of our most important responsibilities under the law.”

The current rules obligate broadcasters to air three hours a week of regularly scheduled children educational programming in half-hour blocks.

As adopted by a 3-1 vote, the rulemaking recognizes the dramatic changes in the video marketplace since the FCC first adopted its children’s TV rules 20 years ago.

Children, it said, can now tap a vast array of programming from non-broadcast media, including cable, the internet and the wireless networks.

The rulemaking asks if there are alternative ways stations could satisfy their obligations by relying, say, on special sponsorship efforts or even special non-broadcast efforts.

It also proposes allowing multicasting stations to choose on which of their free over-the-air streams to air their required core children’s programming.

In response to the announcement, NAB EVP of Communications Dennis Wharton said: “NAB thanks the FCC for its proposal to update children’s television programming rules and Commissioner O’Rielly for his leadership on this issue. Broadcasters remain committed to delivering educational programming to kids. But given the seismic changes in how children consume media, it makes perfect sense for the commission to take a fresh look at these regulations.

We will work with the FCC and other stakeholders to craft common-sense, flexible and effective rules that allow local TV stations to continue serving the educational needs of children.”