Senate Approves Plan for TV-Show Blocking Device : Telecom: Computer chip would allow parents to screen out objectionable programming.

Parents could block violent and other objectionable programs on television under a plan approved by the Senate that would require manufacturers to include a special computer chip in new TVs.

Despite objections by Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), the requirement was added by voice vote Tuesday night to a bill overhauling the nation’s telecommunications laws.

Under the plan, TV sets would be required to have a built-in computer chip that would recognize programs electronically labeled as violent. Using a remote-control device, parents could program a television to not display the shows their children select.

“This is what people want,” said Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), the plan’s author. “They want to choose what comes into their homes.”

Earlier in the day, the Senate turned aside a plan that the Clinton Administration contends is necessary to protect consumers from being hurt from regional phone companies’ entry into the long-distance business.

After four days of debate, the Senate voted 57 to 43 to in effect reject a pair of controversial amendments by Sens. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) and Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) that would give the Justice Department power to veto a Bell company’s entry into long-distance. The bill, as currently written, requires only FCC approval.

In another significant vote, the Senate narrowly fought back an attempt to retain current federal regulations that say no single company can own more than 12 TV stations nationwide, and that those 12 stations cannot reach more than 25% of all U.S. viewers.

The 47-52 vote preserved a provision, crafted by Dole and added to the bill last week, that would lift the 12-station limit and expand the national audience cap to 35%.

Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.) predicted that a final vote on the entire bill could occur today.

One of the most crucial amendments that has yet to be voted on would attempt to temper the bill’s cable rate deregulation provisions--something the White House has been pushing.

Other amendments include a variety of proposals that would either weaken, toughen or expand provisions in the bill designed to restrict children’s access to indecent programs on cable television and computer services.

Under Conrad’s plan to give parents greater control over what their children see on TV, the FCC would determine when TV manufacturers would have to begin installing the special chips into sets. Conrad estimates the cost would be about $5 per set.

Cable networks and broadcasters would be encouraged to set up a voluntary system to rate programs and embed the ratings in their signals. If they don’t set up a voluntary plan within a year, an independent commission would be established to craft a ratings system.