Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 104 Part 1.djvu/1030

 104 STAT. 996 PUBLIC LAW 101-437—OCT. 17, 1990 Public Law 101-437 101st Congress An Act Oct. 17, 1990 [H.R. 1677] Children's Television Act of 1990. 47 USC 609 note. 47 USC 303a note. 47 USC 303a. To require the Federal Communications Commission to reinstate restrictions on advertising during children's television, to enforce the obligation of broadcasters to meet the educational and informational needs of the child audience, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SHORT TITLE SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the "Children's Television Act of 1990". TITLE I—REGULATION OF CHILDREN'S TELEVISION FINDINGS SEC. 101. The Congress finds that— (1) it has been clearly demonstrated that television can assist children to learn important information, skills, values, and behavior, while entertaining them and exciting their curiosity to learn about the world around them; (2) as part of their obligation to serve the public interest, television station operators and licensees should provide programming that serves the special needs of children; (3) the financial support of advertisers assists in the provision of programming to children; (4) special safeguards are appropriate to protect children from overcommercialization on television; (5) television station operators and licensees should follow practices in connection with children's television programming and advertising that take into consideration the characteristics of this child audience; and (6) it is therefore necessary that the Federal Communications Commission Qiereinafter referred to as the "Commission") take the actions required by this title. STANDARDS FOR CHILDREN'S TELEVISION PROGRAMMING SEC. 102. (a) The Commission shall, within 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, initiate a rulemaking proceeding to prescribe standards applicable to commercial television broadcast licensees with respect to the time devoted to commercial matter in conjunction with children's television programming. The Commission shall, within 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, complete the rulemaking proceeding and prescribe final standards that meet the requirements of subsection 0>). 0>) Except as provided in subsection (c), the standards prescribed under subsection (a) shall include the requirement that each commercial television broadcast licensee shall limit the duration of advertising in children's television programming to not more than 49-139 O - 90 (437)

�