Three TV Groups to Ask for Kids TV Relief

THREE TV GROUPS TO ASK FOR KIDS TV RELIEF
[SOURCE: TVNewsday, AUTHOR: Kim McAvoy]
To head off more legal and regulatory wrangling, the broadcast networks last December reached an agreement with kids TV advocates in which the networks agreed to go along with new FCC rules that require stations to air three hours of educational kids programming each week on every one of their digital multicast channels. But at least three prominent broadcast groups will ask the FCC today to exempt from the three-hour-a-week requirement digital channels devoted to weather, news or other "public interest programming." Represented by Dow, Lohnes & Albertson, the ad hoc Local Broadcasters Alliance comprises Allbritton Communications, Media General and McGraw-Hill Broadcasting. Jerry Fritz, Allbritton’s senior vice president for legal and strategic affairs, says the rules need “real world flexibility." Channels promising news or weather 24/7 will lose viewership if people tune in to find children’s programming, he said. It’s “counterproductive" to force children’s programming on these channels, he said. The Alliance is also concerned that, in the absence of a multicast must-carry rule, they may have trouble persuading cable operators to carry their news-and-information channels if they are interrupted by children’s programming.
http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2006/04/21/daily.5/

* Cox Still Pondering Kids Comments
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6327118?display=Breaking+News