Update On Children's Television Reporting And Related Requirements
by Barbara K. GardnerBy April 10, 1997, commercial television stations must place two separate reports in their public inspection files, each reflecting children's programming broadcast January 1 through March 3 1, 1997: a completed Children's Television Program Report on FCC Form 398, and documentation of compliance (or non-compliance) with the children's commercial limits. Subsequent quarterly reports are to be placed in the public file by the tenth day of the succeeding calendar quarter (i.e., by July 10 for the second quarter, by October 10 for the third quarter, and by January 10 for the fourth quarter). Each of these requirements is described below.
I. Children's Television Programming Report (FCC Form 398) and Related Requirements
Prior to January 2, 1997, stations maintained records of their "most significant" educational and informational programming directed to children 16 and under on lists of their own creation. In general, licensees had discretion to develop their own format for these records. Beginning with the first quarter of 1997, however, FCC Form 398, the Children's Television Programming Report, takes the place of stations' children's programming lists. Stations must utilize the Report to document their compliance with the educational programming requirement during the first calendar quarter of 1997, and to specify what educational children's programming they will broadcast during the second quarter.
Completion of Form 398. Until September 1, 1997, licensees are not required to provide information in response to Questions 2-5 on Form 398 (addressing the amount of "core" programming aired by the licensee). During this transition period, the licensee's programming that is "specifically designed" to educate and inform children 16 and under should be described instead, in response to Question 6. Similarly, during the transition period only, the licensee's response to Question 7, which asks what "core" programming is planned for the next quarter, should be directed to future programming "specifically designed" to educate and inform children.
Children's Programming Liaison. Note that at Question 10, Form 398 requires licensees to identify their "children's programming liaison." This person must be based at the station (not at a distant headquarters office), and must be the individual actually responsible for carrying out the licensee's Children's Television Act responsibilities. A Program Director is an appropriate children's programming liaison; a receptionist is not.
Placement of Form 398 in the Public Inspection File. A copy of the completed Form 398 for the first quarter of 1997 must be placed in the public inspection file by the April 10 deadline. The signed original should be kept in the station's non-public files. The Children's Television Programming Reports must be maintained separately from other portions of the public inspection file, including the quarterly reports of compliance with the children's commercial limits.
Filing Form 398 with the FCC. For a three-year experimental period, each licensee's Children's Television Programming Reports must be filed on an annual basis with the FCC. Thus, on January 10, 1998, stations must file all four of their 1997 Form 398 quarterly Reports with the FCC. The Reports for 1998 will be filed with the Commission on January 10, 1999, and those for 1999 on January 10, 2000. Alternatively the reports may be filed with the Commission every quarter, when they are prepared.
Electronic Preparation and Filing of Form 398. For stations with Internet access, Form 398 may be prepared and filed electronically. The electronic version of Form 398 may be accessed via the Mass Media Bureau's World Wide Web page: click on Children's Television. The World Wide Web address is
http://www.fcc.gov/mmb/
Although a computer diskette version of Form 398 is not yet available, the FCC is currently creating such a version, which will include electronic submission capability. Stations may contact Margaret Kelley at the FCC (202-418-1600) to sign up for a copy.Note that once a station has filed Form 398 electronically, its filing is accessible to anyone who accesses the FCC Form 398 Online Filing System via the Internet. Thus, the public can view a licensee's Reports without having to visit the station, and licensees can access the Reports of other stations in their markets or elsewhere that have filed electronically.
Publicizing the Children's Television Programming Reports. Stations must make the public aware of the existence and location of their Children's Television Programming Reports by means of on-air announcements. In response to recent inquiries, the FCC has informally approved broadcasting such announcements on the same timetable as renewal application announcements are made, i.e. once per day, two times a month, on the 1st and 16th of the month. We recommend that announcements also be rotated among dayparts, with half being aired from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. (5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Central and Mountain time), and the other half divided equally among the 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. time periods.
Stations may, of course, broadcast these announcements more often than twice a month, but we do not recommend airing them less frequently than once per month. To be safe, follow the twice-per-month schedule outlined above.
Remember to include the online location of your station's Reports in the on-air announcements, if you have filed electronically. Identifying the children's programming liaison in the announcements is optional.
Additional Public Information Initiatives. Since January 2, 1997, licensees have been required to identify on the air, at the beginning of the program, each program that is specifically designed to educate and inform children.
The required on-air notice must simply indicate that the program to follow is designed to educate and inform children; it may consist of an audio identification, video identification, or both. In the event that any network or syndicated children's educational programming is not properly identified as such when it arrives at the station, licensees must be prepared to insert their own slide, audio announcement, or "crawl," and/or superimpose their own symbol, to designate such programs as designed to educate. To facilitate this process, licensees may want to designate such programs with an "Eli" or other symbol in their daily program schedules, to alert the master control operator on duty to insert the station's educational identifier if one is missing. The station's own identifier should also be used to identity any in-house programs that are "specifically designed" to educate and inform children. The target age group for which each program is intended may be included in the on-air identification, but such information is not required by the Commission's Rules. If a superimposed symbol is used, viewers must be informed of the symbol's meaning.
Licensees must also provide publishers of television program guides and program listings with information identifying programming that is "specifically designed" to educate and inform children, as well as the age group for which, in the opinion of the licensee, each such program is intended. Effective September 1, 1997, this requirement will apply to any children's programming which the licensees intends to qualify as "core" programming.
"Core" Programming and the Three-Hour Processing Guideline. The requirement to broadcast "core" educational programming, and the opportunity to earn an automatic "pass" on your children's educational programming performance if you broadcast three hours of such programming per week, take effect September 1, 1997. In brief, a "core" program is a regularly scheduled weekly program at least 30 minutes in duration that is aired between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., has education as a significant purpose, is identified as a children's educational and informational program to publishers of program guides and on the air, and whose educational objective and target audience age are listed in the station's Form 398 Children's Television Programming Report.
For purposes of this definition, a question has arisen, particularly in the case of West Coast affiliates of major networks whose weekend sports events often preempt their children's programming, as to how often a weekly program may be preempted and still quality as "regularly scheduled." At this writing, the FCC has provided no guidance other than to indicate informally that a program preempted ten percent or less of the time, i.e. no more than once for a thirteen-week series, will still be deemed "regularly scheduled." Since the FCC appears to be taking a quite conservative stance on this question, we recommend that network affiliates acquire sufficient additional half-hours of educational programming to be sure of qualifying for the three-hour processing guideline.
II. Records Verifying Compliance With Children's Advertising Limits
By the 10th day of the month following each calendar quarter, commercial television stations must also place in their public inspection files documentation verifying that they complied with the children's television advertising limits during the preceding quarter. This documentation must identify the programs that were subject to the limits, and must reflect all instances of non-compliance. The commercial limits --10.5 minutes per hour on weekends, and 12 minutes per hour on weekdays -- apply pro rata to all programming of five minutes or more originally produced and broadcast primarily for children ages 12 and under.
The Commission has approved several different methods for documenting compliance with the commercial limits. In all cases, a mere certification that there were no violations of the limits during the calendar quarter just ended is not adequate. The first method -- placing all programming logs or tapes in the public inspection file -- is probably impractical for most licensees, because of the sheer bulk of such records. A second acceptable means of documentation is listing, in grid form, the number of commercial minutes per hour aired during each episode of every children's program broadcast during the quarter, a method that will probably add at most two pieces of paper per week, or twenty-six for the quarter, to a station's public file. Such a form must specify the date, time, program name, and number of commercial minutes for each airing of each children's program segment of five minutes or longer throughout the quarter. In addition, any instances where program-related characters or products appeared in spots aired within or adjacent to the related program ("program-length children's commercials") must be identified and explained. A responsible station official should review and approve these lists in writing on a routine basis.
A final method of demonstrating compliance with the children's television commercial limits is through documentation certifying that, as to each children's program broadcast, the network or syndicator and the station, as a routine practice, formats (and air) the program so as to comply with the commercial limits. Each program that is subject to the limits must be identified, and a detailed list of all overages including any program-length commercials must be supplied. If the station receives certifications of compliance from its affiliated network and/or from program syndicators about the formatting of children's programming, it must also keep documentation capable of showing that no commercials in excess of the statutory limits were added by the station. We recommend that the certification should: explain how the station utilizes information received from the network and/or syndicators to determine what may be added locally; describe the prescreening or other procedures utilized by the station to assure that spots for program-related products are not aired within the related programs, creating program-length commercials; identity what safeguards are in place to assure that master control operators do not alter the pre-log; and describe the traffic manager's procedures for checking compliance and ascertaining discrepancies. When completed, the statement should be certified in writing as accurate by the traffic manager or other responsible employee.
Whichever method you utilize, we recommend that you retain program logs throughout the license term to back up the documents you have placed in your public file, since commercial television licensees must maintain records sufficient to substantiate that they have complied with the commercial limits.
