Lawmakers to Call Halt to TV Ratings Legislation

In a development expected to help pave the way for a beefed-up TV ratings system, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and three other lawmakers will announce today that they will support a three-year moratorium on legislation pertaining to ratings and TV content if the television industry and children’s groups reach agreement on new guidelines.

The industry has been seeking such assurances from Congress and from the children’s groups in exchange for expanding its ratings to include warnings to parents about programs containing sex, violence or coarse language.

Sources said the support of Markey, an outspoken critic of the current ratings system who has been working closely with the children’s organizations, could help ease the industry’s demand for written assurances from the groups themselves. The two sides resumed negotiations Monday night.

Markey will be joined at a Washington news conference today by Reps. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), James P. Moran (D-Va.) and John M. Spratt Jr. (D-S.C.), the principal House sponsors of the original legislation that called for a TV ratings system to be used to trigger an electronic blocking device in television sets.