Kidvid Order Approved 3-2, No Substantive Changes

Commissioner Mike O'Rielly -- who oversaw the kidvid media modernization effort -- defended the final order as a compromise that won't prevent broadcast-only households from having access to educational and informational (E/I) content. “This is a modest approach that does nothing to disturb the requirement for broadcasters to air 156 hours per year of kidvid programs,” he said. O'Rielly challenged Starks' description of what the item allows, in an after-meeting news conference, arguing the final order includes minimums that would prevent broadcasters from airing no regularly scheduled 30-minute long programs on the primary stream. Starks stood by his statement in a later news conference. He said expanded allowances for pre-emption for local programming combined with loosened rules for program length and multicasting could potentially allow a stationto air no regularly scheduled, 30-minute programming on a primary stream.

Rosenworcel and O'Rielly said they had private discussions over what should be in the final order, and both declined to specify what offerings or input Rosenworcel suggested. “We didn't come to an agreement,” O'Rielly said. O'Rielly said he and Starks didn't have discussions about the draft.

A late attempt by Gray Television was also unsuccessful in getting edits to the draft item, said Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey in response to our question. The final order addresses all ex parte filings but isn't substantively changed from the draft version, Carey said. Gray sought relaxation of rules requiring broadcasters to submit kid content information for programming guides.

The final order enacts “common-sense reforms,” Chairman Ajit Pai said, saying the rules could be relaxed further. “There is certainly more room to update our kidvid rules, but this is a positive first step,” he said. “This order may not have gone as far as some of us would have liked in reconceiving the statutory mandate for kidvid regulations and it doesn’t blindly maintain the status quo as others demand,” O'Rielly said.

The related Further NPRM suggests efforts to relax kidvid rules could continue, Rosenworcel said. “100 percent of households that receive free children’s television programming over the air today, as a result of our rules, will still receive that programming tomorrow,” said Carr. O'Rielly cited multicast 24-hour kids channels from PBS and Ion as examples of the sort of content that broadcast-only homes could still access. An Ion ex parte filing posted Wednesday shows the bureau queried Ion about its kidvid content. Opponents of the order noted Amazon, a source of children's content identified in previous FCC materials, is getting out of children's content (see 1906280026). America's Public Television Stations and PBS Wednesday said the FCC for recognized public TV kidvid offerings.

Starks and Rosenworcel said the item will make kidvid content harder to find and less accessible. “We shuttle off programming to multicast streams that most people don’t watch and few parents are ever likely to locate,” said Rosenworcel, describing herself as “saddened.” It's “unacceptable” that the order opens the door for more short-form and multicast programming without including steps to address the issue of shorter and multicast programs not falling under current video description requirements, Starks said. The order “could significantly harm children and parents with disabilities,” he said.

“Today’s decision will be remembered as one where the three GOP members of the FCC embodied the worst qualities of Dickens’ Ebenezer Scrooge,” wrote Center for Digital Democracy Executive Director Jeff Chester. “Congress must step in and enact a new law that requires TV stations, cable systems and streaming video providers provide a wide range of quality content for children.” The decision will let TV stations ignore their obligation to serve the public interest, said CDD and the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood.

“Today’s FCC decision sacrifices children’s education and well-being all for corporate profit,” said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.. “While the Commission’s final rule change did not completely dismantle children’s television as originally proposed, it clearly put the interests of companies ahead of our kids.” The order is “common-sense regulation,” said NAB. Streamlining reporting rules will "substantially reduce burdens for cable operators without compromising the rules’ underlying protections for child viewers," said America's Communications Association.