In comments last week, NAB told the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that it shares the Commission’s goals of promoting quality educational and informational children’s programming and empowering parents with information and tools to guide media usage for their families. On both their main, and now more than 1,400 multicast channels nationwide, television broadcasters are fulfilling the goals of the 1990 Children’s Television Act (CTA) both by offering programming specifically designed to serve the educational and informational needs of children, as well as programming aimed at broader audiences that nonetheless serves those needs. As the Commission has recognized, in the 20 years since the passage of the CTA, the electronic media landscape has changed dramatically.

Rather than imposing further regulations on television licensees, NAB urged the Commission to focus on ensuring that parents have the necessary tools to make informed decisions about their families’ media needs and interests. In particular, the Commission should consider, and explore with other federal partners, the creation and distribution of a comprehensive media literacy campaign so that parents and children can make more effective choices among the vast array of media resources available today. Click here to read NAB’s comments.