House Passes Children’s TV Bill to Set Limits on Ads

A bill aimed at limiting commercial aspects of children’s television moved a step closer to President Bush’s desk Monday when it was unanimously approved by the House of Representatives.

Swift action by the House had been expected following last Thursday’s approval in the Senate of a nearly identical children’s TV package. Like the Senate bill, the House measure would re-establish advertising time limits in children’s programming, on both broadcast stations and on cable channels. Commercials would be limited to 12 minutes per hour on weekdays and 10 1/2 minutes on weekends--standards already being met by most broadcasters and cable operators.

The House bill also requires broadcasters to show how they have met the “educational and informational needs” of children in their overall programming when seeking license renewal from the Federal Communications Commission. During the deregulation-oriented 1980s, license renewal had become a routine matter of mailing in a postcard.

The final provision of the House bill instructs the FCC to conclude a court-ordered inquiry into toy-based children’s programs, which proliferated in the years following deregulation in 1984. Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), sponsor of the bill, said that Monday’s passage “will provide broadcasters and children’s program producers with the necessary incentives to educate our nation’s children creatively rather than to exploit them economically.”

The House bill differed from the Senate measure in one significant way: It does not include a mandate establishing a National Endowment for Children’s Television, which would administer grants to produce children’s programs.

That difference between the two measures means that the House measure now returns to the Senate before going to a conference committee, which will work out the final proposal to be sent to President Bush.