FCC To Revisit Kids TV Rules

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski told the Senate Commerce Committee that the agency is opening a inquiry into children's television rules. "I believe an examination of the Children's Television Act in light of the current marketplace and technologies merits the attention of both this Committee and the Commission," he said, "and I look forward to working closely with the Committee as it proceeds on its work in this area." And look for the FCC to cast its view wider than broadcasting to include cable, satellite, video games, mobile video, and the Internet. But while Chairman Genachowski said that the wealth of new digital media outlets justified re-opening the act, he also said that broadcasting remains an "essential medium" and that it was still "uniquely accessible to all Americans," a phrase that echoes one of the Supreme Court's justification for broadcast content regulation, though in that case the court specifically cited access to kids. Broadcasters, by contrast, have recently ramped up their argument that given all those media choices Genachowski cited, the uniqueness of that access is called into question, if not mooted.