Networks Ask FCC to Delay Rules on Kids’ TV

The major television networks Monday sought to delay an expansion of federal regulations that bar broadcasters from regularly preempting educational children’s TV shows, arguing that it could hurt their ability to air live sports.

The filing of a petition with the Federal Communications Commission follows intense lobbying by network executives, who say existing regulations already are making it difficult to air Major League Baseball games as well as college and professional sports during weekends.

The problem, they argue, is especially acute in the West, where live sports telecasts from the East Coast and Midwest often air early in the day because of time zone differences, bumping up against the prime viewing hours for the educational shows.

“We are simply asking the FCC to hold off on implementing any new regulations until they review and respond to the concerns we expressed,” NBC Universal spokeswoman Shannon Jacobs said.

Under current regulations, networks are required to air between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. three hours a week of educational programming for children 16 years and under. Children’s shows airing Saturday that networks count toward that include ABC’s “The Proud Family” and Nickelodeon’s “Blue’s Clues,” which airs on many CBS stations.

Amid a looming nationwide transition to digital television, broadcasters in January will have to supply three hours each on the up to five digital channels they can multicast. Regulators can revoke a TV station’s license if it does not air enough educational children’s shows.

The FCC declined to comment. But children’s TV advocates say they are unsympathetic, noting that government regulations already allow broadcasters to preempt up to 10% of children’s programming during the week for special broadcasts.

“I don’t understand broadcasters that want to take away a law that enriches children’s lives,” said Gloria Tristani, a former FCC member who heads the United Church of Christ’s media advocacy office. “They’ve been visiting the FCC nonstop for the last three weeks, fighting this measure.”

Last week, CBS Television Executive Vice President Martin D. Franks and other network representatives visited FCC officials to complain about the rules. The FCC, Franks said, is unfairly insisting, “Thou must do kids at the expense of news or sports.”

Among the networks, Fox has told the FCC that its Pacific time zone stations had to preempt more than 15% of their children’s TV programming during the quarter ended June 2004 to accommodate baseball games.

Meanwhile, CBS said it preempted 10.9% during one quarter because of NFL coverage. CBS sometimes has shifted children’s programming to 9 a.m. on Saturdays from noon, preempting news shows, to avoid conflicts with sporting events.

Even though both Fox and CBS exceeded the 10% cap, neither was penalized because the FCC’s limit applies to the average preempted over a year.

Critics have long complained that three hours a week of children’s educational programming is hardly a burden, and that broadcasters don’t embrace their obligation.

In the early 1990s, the networks expanded weekday morning news-talk shows such as “Good Morning America” and the “Today Show” to the weekend, when most children’s programming airs. The move left little room to shift children’s shows around when live sports events intervene. Critics also have complained that broadcasters sometimes stretch the definition of educational shows to include entertainment programs.

With the parties at an impasse over the children’s TV rules, the networks have hired former U.S. Solicitor General Seth P. Waxman and attorney Helgi C. Walker, a former associate White House counsel under President Bush, to mount a legal challenge if the FCC doesn’t reconsider. The networks have argued that a proliferation of local newscasts and live sporting events has made it difficult to accommodate children’s shows.

“Stations in the West were required to preempt more than 10% of their children’s programming to accommodate the Olympics, NFL games and other sports,” Fox Entertainment Group Inc., NBC Universal Inc. and Viacom Inc., owner of CBS, said in papers submitted to the FCC this year. “The new rule simply makes Saturday children’s television impossible for many licensees affiliated with large networks.”

Jeff McIntyre, public policy director of the American Psychological Assn., said the networks’ “use of hired guns and hard-line tactics have been dismaying,” but added that his organization, other child advocacy groups and federal regulators aren’t likely to back down.

“I think we would anticipate the FCC defending their unanimous vote to impose these rules,” McIntyre said. “We certainly want to see kids’ interests protected.”