H.R. 2738 would empower parents to protect children from increasing depictions of indecent material on television.
Detailed Summary
Family and Consumer Choice Act of 2007 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to adopt rules to protect children from indecent video programming carried by a multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD). Gives MVPDs the option to either: (1) in accordance with FCC indecency and profanity policies and standards, not transmit indecent or profane material in the expanded basic tier between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. in the Eastern or Pacific time zones or between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the Central or Mountain times zones; (2) scramble or block any channel that a subscriber does not wish to receive; or (3) allow a subscriber to subscribe to a family tier of programming (defined as including all channels on the expanded basic tier, except those that carry programs rated TV-14 or TV-MA during those hours). Requires MVPDs that elect to scramble or block channels to issue credit in certain circumstances to a subscriber for any channel the subscriber elects to block. Requires MVPDs that elect to provide a family tier to allow a subscriber to obtain the family tier of programming for one or more of the subscriber's reception devices while simultaneously obtaining other tiers for other of the subscriber's reception devices.
Status of the Legislation
Latest Major Action: 6/15/2007: Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Points in Favor
(Log in to edit the wiki and be the first to show why the bill should pass!)
Points Against
(Log in to edit the wiki and be the first to show why the bill should not pass!)
Visitor Comments
HBB
This is nothing more than another piece of nonsense in the incessant stream of government nannyism, ALL OF WHICH MUST BE STOPPED. Parents already have the empowerments to control TV content. They're called remote controls and ON/OFF switches.
Karen
Yes, I agree that parents do have control by using the ON/OFF switch. But that is not the sum of the bill. The aspect of this bill that appeals to me is the choice NOT to pay for the 80 million channels I don't watch. The way the cable industry presents packages to us is the same as walking into a restaurant and being told that regardless of what you eat from the menu, you will be charged for ALL of the items on the menu. Yes, you could walk out of the restaurant and go to another one (switch cable companies), but they all operate like that. True, you could also go home and eat something from your sparsely stocked refrigerator (watch regular local channels) or you could choose not to eat at all (stop watching TV). Why is the cable industry afraid to offer choice? If a company offered option number three, the opt-out option, I would sign up in a New York minute!