When Congress called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to examine rating and blocking issues, it specifically admonished the agency not to include in its report parental control technologies that “affect the packaging or pricing of content.” In the current economy, the last thing the FCC should consider is a speculative regulatory regime that would seek to target and eliminate advertising. That was the message in reply comments we filed today, along with the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the American Advertising Federation.
The FCC issued a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) on March 3rd seeking comments on the V-chip and other parental control technologies for video and audio programming. We filed comments on April 16th urging the Commission to disavow any effort to require content ratings for TV commercials so that the V-chip could be used to block them. Unfortunately, several advocacy groups have a long “wish list” of programming or commercial matter they would prefer to block. So they filed comments asking the FCC to grant their wish -- to require TV commercials and additionally all programs with product placements to be rated so they could be blocked by the V-chip.
Efforts to rate and block ads, while viewers can continue to receive the programs these ads support, would fundamentally undermine the economic foundations of a large portion of the TV media.
Also, rating TV commercials would be an administrative nightmare. According to Nielsen data, thousands of new and newly revised TV ads appear each week, and several hundred thousand of these TV commercials appear each year. Those ads appear in different media venues (broadcast, cable, syndication) and different versions (60-second or 30-second or 15-second) and are often produced and delivered under significant time pressure. Requiring ratings on each of these ads would be highly disruptive and impossible to administer. This ratings censorship scheme would be a clear example of regulatory overkill, as very few ads give rise to any controversy.
Imposing ratings on TV commercials and product placement goes far beyond the legal authority of the FCC. It places an unconstitutional burden on advertisers and the programs they sponsor. The First Amendment limits any regulation of commercial time that acts as a disincentive for speech. Even in good times, the FCC has always recognized the need to not undermine advertiser support for the media it regulates. Rating TV commercials is a bad idea in any economic climate. It’s a disastrous one in a period in which the media is already buffeted by the downturn in the economy.
It’s a disastrous one in a period in which the media is already buffeted by the downturn in the economy.
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