TV Industry Reportedly OKs New Ratings

Most of the television industry, under pressure from Congress and parents’ groups, has agreed to rate its programs according to potentially offensive levels of sex, violence, foul language and even sexually suggestive dialogue, congressional and industry sources said Wednesday.

Although some details remained to be worked out, the agreement was expected to be unveiled formally today at a White House press conference led by Vice President Al Gore.

“It’s a done deal--the TV industry and the children’s groups have told me that,” Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in an interview Wednesday night. “It will be announced tomorrow.”

“This new ratings system will change the relationship between American families and their TV sets,” said Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), a critic of the present ratings system and the sponsor of the law requiring “V-chips” in new TV sets as of next February. Parents will be able to use the electronic device to black out programs with ratings they deem unsuitable for their children.

Industry executives agreed to change the ratings system only after receiving assurances from key members of Congress of a moratorium of several years on legislation to modify the system still further.

Within the TV industry, however, there was one major holdout. NBC, the top-rated broadcast network, has decided not to join CBS, ABC, Fox and virtually every other cable-TV network.

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NBC executives told their colleagues Wednesday that they would not adopt the S, V, L and D symbols denoting sexual content, violence, profane language and suggestive dialogue. In a statement released Wednesday night, NBC said, “The television industry has entered into a brokered arrangement to change the current rating system under the threat of government intervention. While we believe that more information is useful to parents, NBC is concerned that the ultimate aim of the current system’s critics is to dictate programming content . . .

“Viewers, not politicians and special-interest groups, should regulate the remote control. . . . NBC is disappointed that the industry capitulated to political and special-interest groups and did not look more seriously at the implications of the flawed process in which they engaged.”

NBC executives said that the network would continue using the current age-based ratings categories, adding some parental advisories about violence and other content that will be written by NBC.

NBC’s decision cast a cloud over an agreement that was reached after weeks of fractious negotiations. Rep. W.J. “Billy” Tauzin (R-La.), chairman of the House subcommittee on telecommunications, said in an interview Wednesday that he believed “NBC will come around” once the network sees the assurances of a congressional moratorium on future ratings legislation.

McCain also said that he hoped NBC would decide to participate before the new ratings begin, on Oct. 1. But--although it’s unlikely that Congress will pass legislation to punish one network--McCain warned that, if NBC doesn’t join the others in coming months, he might move a bill from Sen. Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.) that would require networks that don’t provide content-based ratings to restrict their violent programming to late-night hours.

Some executives at other networks said Wednesday that they wished NBC had taken its stance earlier, when other networks were considering going to court over creating “voluntary” ratings mandated by Congress early last year. Others noted that NBC might be afraid of “stigmatizing” labels for its adult dramas and racy sitcoms. “We added the ‘D’ in dialogue for NBC shows like ‘Friends,’ ” one executive said.

But NBC executives said they were acting on principle. “We’re doing this because we think it’s right,” one NBC executive said.

In the short term, NBC is likely to suffer censure from the children’s groups and members of Congress. “All of the recent congressional criticism about all of the networks and ratings will now be focused on NBC,” one congressional source said.

The agreement represents the climax of a month of intense negotiations between television executives and representatives of the National Parent Teacher Assn., the Center for Media Education, the American Academy of Pediatrics and about 10 other organizations representing parents and children.

The parents’ and children’s groups were unsatisfied from the beginning with the age-based ratings system, which was devised by the TV industry and based on the code of the Motion Picture Assn. of America and put into effect on Jan. 1. The children’s groups were empowered to negotiate a new ratings system by McCain and other members of Congress after two unflattering public congressional hearings on the TV-ratings system. Markey, the original sponsor of the V-chip legislation, worked closely with the children’s critics for months, denouncing the industry’s TV-PG rating as being “too vague--parents give up.”

The new system, however, will incorporate the old designations. For most shows these were TV-G (for general audiences), TV-PG (parental guidance suggested), TV-14 (not suitable for children under 14) and TV-MA (for mature audiences only). Children’s shows are ranked as TV-Y (for all children) and TV-Y7 (for children over 7).

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The new system will add S, V, L and D labels where appropriate to shows in each category. (Not every show will get all the labels. The definition of “PG” will be narrowed to indicate that a show in that category contains “moderate” levels of violence or other content.

And--in a major concession to children’s critics, another new label--FV for fantasy violence--will be added to action-oriented children’s cartoons.

Industry officials did not plan to attend today’s announcement.