Channel 9 Dick Tracy Ads May Have Violated FCC Policy : Television: Commercials for toys and the movie were aired during the ‘Dick Tracy’ cartoon series on Disney’s KCAL. The station has now pulled the ads.

Disney-owned KCAL Channel 9 apparently violated Federal Communications Commission policy this week by airing commercials for toys based on its parent company’s “Dick Tracy” movie during a “Dick Tracy” cartoon series for children.

FCC policy prohibits hosts of children’s shows from promoting products within the program, as well as the airing of commercials during the program for program-related products.

The station pulled the ads from the show Thursday after inquiries from The Times on Wednesday. It also pulled ads for the “Dick Tracy” movie that had been running in the show earlier in the week.

Jim Saunders, KCAL’s executive vice president and manager, said through a spokeswoman, “Pending official legal opinion from our lawyers, we are pulling the (toy) spots, although we don’t think we’re doing anything illegal.”

Ralph Blumberg, supervisor of investigations for the enforcement division of the FCC’s Mass Media Bureau, said that the regulatory agency’s 1974 Children’s Television Report Policy Statement “makes it clear that ‘host-selling’ and related practices are deemed to take unfair advantage of a child audience and are against FCC policy.”

Blumberg said, for example, that on May 15, 1989, KCOP Channel 13 in Los Angeles was issued a letter of admonition from the commission because it had “undermined the separation between advertising and program” by running commercials for “My Little Pony” products during the “My Little Pony” cartoon show.

KCAL, along with about 74 other stations nationwide, began airing a 13-week revival of the “Dick Tracy” cartoon series on Monday. The series, revived for syndication to capitalize on interest generated by the Disney motion picture that opens in theaters today, originally ran in New York in 1961 and was broadcast on CBS from 1971 to 1973. KCAL is running the show weekdays at 8 a.m.

Through Wednesday, the station not only ran ads for the Disney movie and for Dick Tracy action- figure toys, but also promo spots for the station’s own “behind-the-scenes” “Dick Tracy” special airing Wednesday night.

Shelly Hirsch, president of programming at Sachs Finley Programming in New York, which is distributing the “Dick Tracy” cartoon series, indicated surprise that the toy ads were running during the show on KCAL.

His company also represents Playmates Toys, Inc., the company that makes the Disney-licensed “Dick Tracy” action figures. As part of the syndication deal, Sachs Finley Programming sold two minutes of commercial time to Playmates and other Sachs Finley clients to air on stations that carry the cartoons, but Hirsch insisted that KCAL was told to be aware that the “Dick Tracy” toy ads should not run during the program.

He said that Sachs Finley “gave the station (KCAL) the program with no commercials in it. We don’t want to participate in twisting children’s minds. We’re very sincere with not trying to coerce children into buying our product.”

Hirsch said that he was aware of the FCC’s children’s television policy and that if there was a violation at KCAL, “I apologize.”

He said that his company decided to offer the program for syndication because, “Dick Tracy, though known in the adult community, might be unknown to kids. There’s a good synergy in getting the cartoon series on the air and getting kids interested in Dick Tracy.

“Kids make the movies the blockbusters they are,” he said. “We figure, basically, we’ll take advantage of the megabucks Disney is spending and in a way complement Disney--we believe we’re going to bring a lot of kids to the party, and that could make the difference between a success and a big success.”

Matt Cooperstein, head of programming at KCAL, said that Sachs Finley had “originally asked to take its (commercial) time outside the show, but we, as part of our arrangements, had included the time within the show, and they have a contract that says that. In the final negotiations,” he said, “the spots are to air within the show. It was not something that was done by KCAL and placed inside the program.”

Hirsch responded to Cooperstein’s statement by saying, “We have specific instructions to the station as to what goes where. We would never schedule ‘Dick Tracy’ products to run in a ‘Dick Tracy’ show. It’s wrong. Period.”

The FCC’s Blumberg said that the commission would not take action against KCAL unless it receives a written complaint. The only action that would be taken is to send a letter of admonition; there is no fine, he said, “because no money is involved.”

Whether the ad for the “Dick Tracy” movie would constitute the same policy violation as the toy ads is uncertain, Blumberg said. Similar cases are under review, he added.

Peggy Charren, president of the consumer group Action for Children’s Television, wishes the FCC would take a more aggressive stance.

“The Commission should reiterate its policy loud and clear,” she said, “because they’ve been so quiescent that it seems the industry has forgotten those rules exist.

“Nobody is looking to see that this doesn’t happen,” Charren said of the “Dick Tracy” ads. “The only reason ‘Dick Tracy’ is on the air is to focus on the promotional possibilities of the movie.

“1990 seems to be the era when we think of children only as a market. I’ve never read so much in the trades about how much money children control: ‘If you want to sell something, sell it to children.’

“It’s really commercial child abuse,” she stressed. “It may not be as serious as traditional child abuse, but it leads to a world where we’re doing away with childhood. Some of the worst things happen on children’s television,” she added, “because so few adults are watching.”