As a member of the Advisory Committee I must make a stronger statement regarding the digital broadcast industry's obligations to the children and families of this Nation than is contained in the Advisory Committee's Report. The recommendations contained in the Report do little to promote, and nothing to secure, the interests of families and children. As the president of National PTA, I hold those obligations that directly affect children and families to be of tantamount importance and believe they must have a greater focus in the Report. Because we agree that the digital spectrum is a "national resource," we urge the use of that resource to directly support the educational, cultural, entertainment, and community needs of the Nation's citizens.
The absence of a discussion on children's educational programming in the recommendation section is very distressing. Child advocates fought long and hard for the current rule requiring the broadcasting of 3 hours per week of educational programming for children. In the digital age, with expanded broadcast capacity, this obligation should be increased to include airing no less than 1 hour of children's educational programming each day on the main channel. A related issue is that of violent content in children's programming; broadcasters should be required to reduce the amount of violence shown in programs that are targeted to children. Because we are aware of the impact of advertising on youth, we would further insist that advertising of alcoholic beverages, including beer and wine, and tobacco products be elimi- nated during those hours when children's programming is aired.
Broadcasters should also be strongly encouraged to make consistent use of a universal television rating system in tandem with the v-chip. Although both industry representatives and children's advocates agreed on a ratings system, recent studies show that broadcasters have not applied the ratings in a uniform or consistent manner, giving parents and families an incomplete or, at times, wholly inadequate "rating" of a program. The v-chip will never be a useful tool if the ratings system is not utilized to its fullest capacity.
As the world of digital television evolves, so will its capacity for interactivity, targeted marketing, datacasting, and data retrieval. Children and youth are vulnerable and must be protected from commercial exploitation and intrusive or deceptive marketing activities. Public interest obligations must be established to protect our children from these practices. Additionally, information transmitted via datacasting should be sent to all public schools and libraries in a station's broadcast area, however, this should not be the only public interest obligation that broadcasters need to fulfill. As a national resource, the digital spectrum could play an important role in providing aid to families and children by implementing a public service program that airs photographs of missing children. Providing this information would aid in the prevention, investigation, and recovery of missing children.
We strongly support the use of collected fees from multiplexing and ancillary and supplementary services to enhance the public interest in broadcasting -- in particular, applying them to noncommercial education, community service, and children's programming. We are opposed to using general revenue funds that are currently targeted to other children's health and education programs for this purpose.
Because of the important need to fund and secure noncommercial educational, community service, and children's programming, we support new funding mechanisms. A 2 percent fee on the gross revenues of broadcast, cable, and satellite operators could provide a predictable funding stream to ensure increased programming that benefits our citizenry.
We have serious concerns with the "pay or play" opinion. Public interest obligations should not be bought or sold. An obligation is just that, a requirement to serve the public.
I believe that parents, broadcast media, content providers, and the Federal Communications Commission have a responsibility to support, monitor, and improve the quality of television programming. Our children are this Nation's future and we must protect their interests.