S. PRT. 109–42 OPEN FORUM ON DECENCY OPEN FORUM BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION NOVEMBER 29, 2005 Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 25–225 PDF WASHINGTON : 2006 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:40 Jan 05, 2006 Jkt 025225 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\25225.TXT JACK PsN: JACKF SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION TED STEVENS, Alaska, Chairman JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii, Co-Chairman CONRAD BURNS, Montana JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia TRENT LOTT, Mississippi JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine BARBARA BOXER, California GORDON H. SMITH, Oregon BILL NELSON, Florida JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada MARIA CANTWELL, Washington GEORGE ALLEN, Virginia FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire E. BENJAMIN NELSON, Nebraska JIM DEMINT, South Carolina MARK PRYOR, Arkansas DAVID VITTER, Louisiana LISA J. SUTHERLAND, Republican Staff Director CHRISTINE DRAGER KURTH, Republican Deputy Staff Director DAVID RUSSELL, Republican Chief Counsel MARGARET L. CUMMISKY, Democratic Staff Director and Chief Counsel SAMUEL E. WHITEHORN, Democratic Deputy Staff Director and General Counsel LILA HARPER HELMS, Democratic Policy Director (II) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:40 Jan 05, 2006 Jkt 025225 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\25225.TXT JACK PsN: JACKF C O N T E N T S Page Open Forum held on November 29, 2005 .............................................................. 1 Statement of Senator Inouye .................................................................................. 6 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 6 Letter from Senator Obama ............................................................................. 7 Statement of Senator Pryor .................................................................................... 4 Statement of Senator Rockefeller ........................................................................... 3 Statement of Senator Stevens ................................................................................ 1 Statement of Senator Wyden .................................................................................. 50 WITNESSES Bailey, Bill, Senior Vice President, Regulatory and Government Affairs, XM Radio, Inc. ............................................................................................................. 47 Bartlett, Lee, Executive Vice President, Fox Broadcasting Company ................ 41 Bozell, Brent, President, Parents Television Council ........................................... 17 Carpenter, Tom, Director of Legislative Affairs/General Counsel, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists ........................................................ 54 Casoria, John B., General Counsel, Trinity Broadcasting Network .................... 44 Combs, Roberta, President, Christian Coalition of America ................................ 22 Dyke, Jim, Executive Director, TV Watch ............................................................. 51 Fager, Lisa, President/Co-Founder, Industry Ears ............................................... 55 Fawcett, Dan, Executive Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs, DIRECTV .............................................................................................................. 33 Franks, Martin, Executive Vice President, CBS ................................................... 38 Kinney, David G., Chief Executive Officer, PSVratings ....................................... 52 Largent, Steve, President/CEO, Cellular Telecommunications and Information Association (CTIA) ............................................................................................... 24 Lowenstein, Doug, President, Entertainment Software Association ................... 36 Martin, Kevin J., Chairman, Federal Communications Commission .................. 9 Marventano, Jessica, Senior Vice President, Clear Channel Communications .. 27 McSlarrow, Kyle, President/CEO, National Cable & Telecommunications As- sociation ................................................................................................................ 20 Merlis, Ed, Senior Vice President, Government and Regulatory, United States Telecom Association ............................................................................................. 26 Moskowitz, David, Executive Vice President/General Counsel, EchoStar .......... 34 Padden, Preston, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Government Affairs, The Walt Disney Company .................................................................................. 39 Pantoliano, Joey, Co-President, Creative Coalition .............................................. 31 Polka, Matt, President/CEO, American Cable Association .................................. 29 Reese, Bruce, Joint Board Chairman, National Association of Broadcasters ..... 19 Steyer, Jim, Chief Executive Officer, Common Sense Media ............................... 45 Valenti, Jack, Former Chairman/CEO, Motion Picture Association of America 12 Wright, Dr. Frank, President, National Religious Broadcasters Association ..... 25 Wurtzel, Alan, President, Research and Media Development, NBC Networks .. 42 APPENDIX Brownback, Hon. Sam, U.S. Senator from Kansas, prepared statement ............ 91 (III) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:40 Jan 05, 2006 Jkt 025225 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\25225.TXT JACK PsN: JACKF IV Page C O N T E N T S (Open Forum on Decency—Follow–up Meeting) Open Forum on Decency—Follow–up Meeting held on December 12, 2005 ....... 93 Statement of Senator Inouye .................................................................................. 98 Statement of Senator Stevens ................................................................................ 93 WITNESSES McSlarrow, Kyle, President/CEO, National Cable & Telecommunications Association ............................................................................................................ 96 Valenti, Jack, Former Chairman/CEO, Motion Picture Association of America 94 VerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:40 Jan 05, 2006 Jkt 025225 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\25225.TXT JACK PsN: JACKF OPEN FORUM ON DECENCY TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2005 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE AND TRANSPORTATION, Washington DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:35 a.m. in room SD–50, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Ted Stevens, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. TED STEVENS, U.S. SENATOR FROM ALASKA The CHAIRMAN. Our Co-Chairman is on the way, but he has asked that we proceed with the formalities. Before he gets here, let me thank you all for coming. And this is not something new for me, I want you to know. We’re going to listen to Jack Valenti here in a minute. But, on two previous occasions, when I was asked to take on an issue for this Committee, we started this process of not hav- ing hearings, but listening sessions, and then we got a table like this, both at the time when we enacted the United States Olympic Committee Bill and when we did the Magnuson-Stevens Bill. Those had been preceded by meetings all over the country, but what we did was, we just decided to get some of the principal players, and if you remember, the Olympic problem, NCAA and AAU were at odds with the Olympic athletes, and both or all three of them were at odds with the International Olympic Committee. It was an inter- esting period of time and we had a series of meetings quite similar to this. Now we have done this sort of thing, you might say, as a last resort, and I hope that what you will recognize that people who have volunteered to come here today have different points of view, but they are decision makers, and committed parents very much involved in the overall subject we want to discuss. But above all, we want to have a chance for Congress to better understand all of the points of view and to see them interact a little bit. Jack Valenti will be along. He said he would come, and I think you’ll hear his presentation of his activities at the time the motion pic- ture industry, years ago, finally took action, and it was necessary for Congress to intervene at that time. I think that’s sort of a sam- ple of what we would like to achieve in this process. We’re not in- volved in this to bring about censorship. We are here to really give an opportunity, for those who represent the families of America, to listen to those of you who run the media that some currently be- lieve does not fulfill their wishes to have the kind of moral compass that the country should have for our young people. I’ve told some of you before, when television came to Alaska, it was on a delay (1) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:40 Jan 05, 2006 Jkt 025225 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\25225.TXT JACK PsN: JACKF 2 from Seattle, so we got the football games a week late, and we got all the programs a week late. And my first wife, and we had