TV & VIDEO - Oct. 1, 1987

An appellate court decision that faulted the Federal Communications Commission’s handling of children’s television is being celebrated as “the last nail in the coffin” for kids’ shows built around the products of toy manufacturers. Peggy Charren, head of Action for Children’s Television, said Tuesday’s decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington points the way toward renewed federal regulation of manufacturers’ exploitation of kidvid. In the decision, a three-judge panel struck down the FCC’s rationale (that it did not wish to restrict free speech) for allowing KCOP-TV to run “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe,” a program sponsored and produced partly by Mattel Inc.