Ratings, V-Chips and Self-Policing     5/4/2005
By Martha Kleder

TV networks determine their programs’ age-based ratings, undermining parental control.

This fall you will see something new on your television screen: full compliance by NBC-TV and NBC-owned networks with the content ratings system. Although the ratings system was established in 1996, until now, NBC has refused to use the content descriptors, showing only the age-based ratings seen on movies. That lack of compliance prevented the often lauded V-chip technology from working properly.

The news comes on the heals of work by the National Association of Broadcasters to institute tougher self-regulation in an effort to head off federal legislation increasing indecency fines and bringing basic-package cable channels under the same content regulations as broadcast networks.

As a result of these efforts, broadcast and cable channels are running a public-service campaign promoting the V-chip and blocking technologies. The major networks have also agreed to show the program’s rating in the corner each time the show returns from a commercial break. For the past eight years, the rating has only been shown during the first 15 seconds of a program.

How the V-Chip Works--or Why it Doesn’t
The V-chip is the blocking technology in every television set manufactured after January 1, 2000. The chip reads the TV ratings encoded in the broadcast program, and allows parents to block those programs they find unsuitable for their children based on both the age and content labels, with a few clicks of the remote control.

The age ratings are TV-G, TV-PG, and TV-14 – defined as programs the network thinks are acceptable for children over the age of 14. Content descriptors are “V” for violence, “S” for sexual behavior, “L” for language, “D” for sexual dialog, and “FV” for fantasy violence. Those labels are a vital key to successful operation of the V-chip.

NBC’s refusal to provide content descriptors prevented parents from adequately blocking offensive programming, undercutting the entire system. The problem was only exasperated by the explosive growth in the number of cable channels available in most homes.

“Eight years ago, when content descriptors were first implemented, we questioned if they would cause more confusion than they would help,” Alan Wurtzel, NBC President of Broadcast Standards, told Broadcasting & Cable.

Jan LaRue, chief counsel for Concerned Women for America, notes that the V-chip was instituted in 1996 in response to citizen complaints about content, yet only under the threat of federal intervention are the networks starting to take the system seriously.

“It’s no surprise that parents have been confused about the use of the V-chip; they program their preferred settings but still find offensive content getting through. There’s a big difference between what average parents find offensive and what some industry guru thinks is acceptable,” LaRue added.

NBC’s lack of participation is hardly the only problem with the current ratings system. Another problem, noted bi-annually by the Parents Television Council, is that the very producers of the programs and the network determine the ratings.

Networks’ Self-Rating Undermines Parental Control
When the TV ratings system was first introduced, decency advocates warned that allowing networks to self-rate their programming posed a conflict of interest. The highest authority the networks answer to is the advertiser, and advertisers don’t want to pay for ads on programs that might be blocked from a sizeable portion of the audience. This fact alone taints the network’s objectivity when rating its own shows.

Since 1997, the Parents Television Council (PTC) has produced a bi-annual study of the ratings system and the effectiveness of network-determined ratings rather than having shows rated by an independent board.

“The ratings system is a fraud, and therefore the V-chip is, by extension, useless,” said PTC Founder and President Brent Bozell upon the release of the April 2005 special report The Ratings Sham.

The report studied 638 different shows during 2003 and 2004 on the seven broadcast networks. Among its major findings:

• Every network had problems with accurate and consistent application of content descriptors.
• NBC didn’t use any content descriptors on its programs.
• 81% of CBS’s TV-14-rated shows contained sexual dialog yet lacked the “D” descriptor.
• 43% of the Fox shows were missing appropriate content descriptors.
• 73% of ABC’s TV-14-rated shows lacked appropriate content descriptors.
• 82% of WB’s TV-14-rated shows containing sexual behavior lacked the “S” descriptor.

“The system is simply an excuse for the networks to take more liberties,” Bozell added.

“It is not enough to simply educate the public about the V-chip,” concludes the PTC report. “Networks, intent on relying on the device, must be held accountable to rate shows in a manner that makes the device useful. If parents can’t understand the arbitrary way in which the networks rate their shows and cannot trust the V-chip to block shows because of the lack of content descriptors, they are powerless to decipher what is suitable for their children.”

“Broadcast networks are promoting the television ratings system and the V-chip as the solution to parental concerns about television indecency,” added LaRue. “However, only true accountability, through effective FCC enforcement, customer choice in cable subscription packages, and an independent ratings board will protect children from indecent broadcast programs.”

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