FCC Told to Review Rules on Children’s TV Shows

Responding to concerns over TV cartoons that promote toys advertised on the shows, a federal appeals court today ordered the Federal Communications Commission to review its 1984 decision deregulating the content of children’s television.

In a unanimous opinion by Judge Kenneth Starr, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the FCC’s conservative majority had failed to consider the special needs of children in determining whether programming for this age group could be exempt from longstanding guidelines that have required a separation between program content and commercials.

The court, ruling on a petition by Action for Children’s Television, said the commission’s 1984 report failed to address evidence the group had presented indicating that market forces don’t regulate the commercial content of children’s television.

The children’s television group had contended during the FCC rule-making procedure that market forces would not guarantee high-quality programs for young viewers.

ACT has criticized the major television networks for airing cartoon shows to essentially promote toys based on the characters.

“We won so big on this I think the FCC is going to have to reimpose commercial guidelines on children’s television programs that will stop this flood of toy-based shows that are in the editorial control of the toy companies,” ACT head Peggy Charren said.