Pressure Builds for FCC to Open Hearings on TV Ratings

NEW YORK — With the television industry preparing to submit its controversial new ratings system for government review, pressure grew Wednesday for the Federal Communications Commission to open the process to public hearings so that critics can present alternative ways of alerting parents to programs containing sex, violence and foul language.

Four congressmen called on their colleagues to sign a letter asking the FCC to give the matter a full hearing.

“The industry maintains that only its system will work. Now it’s the public’s turn to be heard,” said Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jim Moran (D-Va.), Dan Burton (R-Ind.) and John Spratt (D-S.C.).

The TV industry, which already has begun implementing the system it modeled on the movie industry’s ratings, plans to submit its plan formally to the FCC today. No decision has been made on whether there will be public hearings.

Industry sources said that TV executives hope the FCC’s planned public comment period will be limited to written submissions. But critics want a publicized forum for knocking the industry’s broad, age-based categories and presenting their own ideas for labeling programs in a way that would give parents more specific information.

The industry system uses six labels that range from programming designed specifically for children to TV-PG (parental guidance suggested), TV-PG14 (may not be suitable for children under 14) and TV-M (intended for adults only). Supporters defend it as simple and familiar.

The Center for Media Education, the National PTA, the American Psychological Assn. and several other groups that have been critical of the industry system also plan to ask the FCC to hold public hearings.

Such hearings, said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Media Education, “will demonstrate the inadequacies of a system the TV industry is trying to railroad through.”

The FCC must decide whether the TV industry’s voluntary system is acceptable. If the agency deems it unworthy, it may appoint an advisory committee to come up with a new system. But it couldn’t force the industry to use it, and TV executives have vowed to go to court if the government tries to force changes in its ratings.

Even if the FCC decides to take only written comments, opponents of the industry plan will have a public forum in Congress. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has said that he intends to hold hearings on TV ratings later this month or in early February.