A Solid Process and Proposal to Update Kid Vid

[Commentary] Congress passed the 1990 Children’s Television Act to tie broadcast-license renewals, the main asset of a local station, with a fairly general obligation to air educational and informational programming for children. Over the years, the Federal Communications Commission has imposed multiple rounds of added burdens on broadcasters under the premise of implementing the law. Given the changed circumstances in the market and need for additional broadcaster flexibility, the FCC will vote [July 12] to initiate a rulemaking to consider modifying our rules on children’s programming, better known as Kid Vid.

The fact of the matter is that data already available to the Commission indicate that broadcasters are heavily burdened by our rules, while most American households and children receive questionable benefits from them. American families want high-quality children’s television programming. Unfortunately, due to outdated rules, broadcasters are hamstrung from meeting market demand. It appears that there is unanimous agreement that our Kid Vid rules should be modernized and that we should carefully consider any data presented to help understand the impact of any proposed changes. That is what I intend to do.