As V-Chip goes Digital, do Consumers Care?

AS V-CHIP GOES DIGITAL, DO CONSUMERS CARE?
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Tom Krazit]
It's been 10 years since Congress required television makers to include the V-Chip in their TVs as a result of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. It's been six years since all televisions 13 inches or larger were required to include a V-Chip. But a 2004 study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation in 2004 found that only 15 percent of parents have ever used the V-Chip. The Ad Council put the usage figures even lower -- at 8 percent. Few expect that to change following a March 15, 2006, deadline that required television makers to include a second generation of the chip in digital TVs. The new V-Chip isn't really a chip. It's software that blocks programs that stray outside a ratings boundary set by the television user. The new technology is designed to accommodate changes in the ratings standards used by broadcasters to rate their content. The analog V-Chip was designed for the technology used to communicate the ratings when the technical standard was drawn up in the late 1990s. To promote the new V-chip, the Ad Council is preparing a renewed advertising campaign for later this year. But if parents today are blocking content from reaching their children, most appear to be using the TV's power-off button rather than chip technology.
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