S. HRG. 109–531 DECENCY IN BROADCASTING, CABLE, AND OTHER MEDIA HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JANUARY 19, 2006 Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 29–472 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 12:35 Sep 05, 2006 Jkt 029472 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\29472.TXT JACKF PsN: JACKF SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS SECOND 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 KENNETH R. NAHIGIAN, 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 12:35 Sep 05, 2006 Jkt 029472 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\29472.TXT JACKF PsN: JACKF C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on January 19, 2006 ......................................................................... 1 Statement of Senator Allen ..................................................................................... 5 Statement of Senator Burns ................................................................................... 3 Statement of Senator Inouye .................................................................................. 2 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 2 Statement of Senator Lautenberg .......................................................................... 4 Statement of Senator Pryor .................................................................................... 28 Statement of Senator Rockefeller ........................................................................... 3 Statement of Senator Stevens ................................................................................ 1 WITNESSES Bozell, III, L. Brent, President/Founder, Parents Television Council ................. 35 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 36 Cohen, David L., Executive Vice President, Comcast Corporation ..................... 14 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 16 Ergen, Charles W., Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, EchoStar Communications Corporation .............................................................................. 10 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 12 Franks, Martin D., Executive Vice President, Planning, Policy and Govern- ment Relations, CBS Corporation ....................................................................... 41 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 42 McIntyre, Jeff J., Legislative and Federal Affairs Officer, Public Policy Office, American Psychological Association ................................................................... 49 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 51 Reese, Bruce T., Joint Board Chairman, National Association of Broadcasters; President/Chief Executive Officer, Bonneville International ........................... 31 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 32 Rosenberg, Alan, President, Screen Actors Guild ................................................. 45 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 47 Valenti, Jack, Former Chairman/CEO, Motion Picture Association of America 7 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 9 APPENDIX Cohen, David L., Letter, dated February 13, 2006, to Hon. Frank R. Lauten- berg ........................................................................................................................ 72 Ergen, Hon. Charles W., Letter, dated February 13, 2006, to Hon. Frank R. Lautenberg ....................................................................................................... 71 Johnson, Kathleen, Vice President, Programming, Sky Angel, letter, dated December 5, 2005, to Hon. Ted Stevens ............................................................. 62 Letter, dated January 18, 2006, from Jeannine Kenney (Consumers Union), Mark Cooper (Consumer Federation of America), and Ben Scott (Free Press) to Hon. Ted Stevens and Daniel K. Inouye ........................................................ 64 Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Frank R. Lautenberg to: L. Brent Bozell, III ........................................................................................... 68 Martin D. Franks ............................................................................................. 67 Jeff J. McIntyre ................................................................................................ 66 Bruce T. Reese .................................................................................................. 65 Jack Valenti ...................................................................................................... 70 Swann, Lanier, Director, Government Relations, Concerned Women for Amer- ica, prepared statement ....................................................................................... 61 (III) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 12:35 Sep 05, 2006 Jkt 029472 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\29472.TXT JACKF PsN: JACKF VerDate 0ct 09 2002 12:35 Sep 05, 2006 Jkt 029472 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\29472.TXT JACKF PsN: JACKF DECENCY IN BROADCASTING, CABLE, AND OTHER MEDIA THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2006 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:04 a.m. in room SD–562, 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. Thank you all for coming. Senator Inouye and I announced a series of hearings, 15 in total, dealing with issues re- lated to communications. We are going to have a continuation of the forum we started in the past, back in November, and at that time we had family groups, broadcasters, cable, satellite, radio, TV, artists, and videogaming representatives. That forum was for the purpose of exploring what we could do to stimulate some voluntary action, because it is my opinion that we could go for the hard man- dates. But if we did opt for the hard mandates, those would be held up in court, and it would take years before changes, which the American public and family demand, take place. So, I am pleased that the industry has responded. We are going to hear today about some of the solutions in terms of family tier offerings. I will leave it to you gentlemen to announce what those are, but very clearly what we have seen—yesterday I went down and visited the demonstration of some of these new technologies, particularly the V-Chip and the blocking technology. From my point of view, the industry and Jack Valenti personally are to be commended for their efforts to make it easier for parents to control what their children watch. I think that is the basic objec- tive right now. I understand we are going to hear today about a new initiative to educate parents on how they can really govern what their children watch and that they have the tools to do that if they can learn how to use them. That initiative, also, we will be pleased to hear about today. There are still people who believe that mandatory legislation may be necessary, and we are here today to hear from different groups about what has happened so far and what further legisla- tion they may be interested in. We are going to have to work with Members of our Committee to develop a bipartisan consensus to get a bill to the floor as soon as we can. These hearings will help us determine the outlines of legislation that will be acceptable and (1) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 12:35 Sep 05, 2006 Jkt 029472 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\29472.TXT JACKF PsN: JACKF 2 will advance the concepts that have already been explored, particu- larly by Senators Brownback, Rockefeller, Wyden, and others. I think I can speak for my Co-Chairman to say that we feel that, with 85 percent of viewers today watching