programming is defined as regularly scheduled, weekly programming of at least 30 minutes, aired between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., that has serving the educational and informational needs of children ages 16 and under as a significant purpose. The program must be identified as core programming when it is aired and in information provided to program guide publishers.

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9. Finally, to provide certainty to broadcasters about how to comply with the CTA and to facilitate fair and efficient processing of the CTA portion of broadcasters' renewal applications, the Commission also adopted a processing guideline. Under this guideline, a broadcaster can receive stafflevel approval of the CTA portion of its renewal application by airing at least three hours per week of programming that meets the definition of “core” educational programming.“ Alternatively, a broadcaster can receive staff-level renewal by showing that it has aired a package of different types of educational and informational programming that, while containing somewhat less than three hours per week of core programming, demonstrates a level of commitment to educating and informing children that is at least equivalent to airing three hours per week of core programming. Licensees not meeting these criteria will have their license renewal applications referred to the Commission.

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10. We seek comment today on how these existing children's television obligations, developed with analog technology in mind, should be adapted to apply to digital television broadcasting. Digital television is a new technology for transmitting and receiving broadcast television signals that delivers better pictures and sound, uses the broadcast spectrum more efficiently, and offers a range of possible applications. DTV broadcasters will have the technical capability and regulatory flexibility to: air high definition TV (HDTV); “multicast,” that is, to send as many as 4 - 6 digital “standard-definition television” (SDTV) signals; or provide “ancillary or supplementary services,” including video and data services that are potentially revenue-producing, such as subscription television, computer software distribution, data transmissions, teletext, interactive services, and “time-shifted” video programming. Broadcasters could choose to shift back and forth among these different DTV modes -- HDTV, SDTV, and new video/information services -- during a single programming day. To facilitate the transition from

. analog to digital television, Congress directed the Commission to grant a second channel for each fullservice television licensee in the country to be used for digital broadcasting during the period of conversion to an all-digital broadcast service.

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11.

In December 1999, we released a Notice of Inquiry ("NOI") to commence collecting

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Id. In this regard, specials, public service announcements (PSAs), short-form programs, and regularly scheduled non-weekly programs with a signficant purpose of educating and informing children can count toward the three-hour processing guideline. Id.

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Id. At a Commission-level review, licensees can demonstrate compliance with the CTA by relying, in part, for example, on sponsorship of core programs on other stations in the market that increases the amount of core educational and informational programming on the station airing the sponsored program or on special nonbroadcast efforts which enhance the value of children's educational and informational programming. Id.

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views on how the public interest obligations of television broadcasters should change in the digital era. As we observed in the NOI, both Congress and the Commission have recognized that digital television broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest. Congress stated in section 336 of the Communications Act that “[n]othing in this section shall be construed as relieving a television broadcasting station from its obligation to serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity. 132 In implementing section 336, the Commission required that broadcasters air a “free digital video programming service the resolution of which is comparable to or better than that of today's service, and aired during the same time period that their analog channel is broadcasting. The Commission also reaffirmed that “digital broadcasters remain public trustees with a responsibility to serve the public interest, and stated that “existing public interest requirements continue to apply to all broadcast

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licensees. 935

12. We recognize that the CTA is written broadly to apply to television broadcast licensees and that there is nothing in the CTA itself, nor the legislative history, to suggest that the statutory requirement, or the regulations promulgated thereunder, should be limited to analog broadcasters. Indeed, the objectives of the CTA -0.g., to increase the amount of educational and information broadcast television programming available to children and to protect children from overcommercialization of programming - would apply equally to the digital broadcasting context. Given this, and in light of explicit congressional intent expressed in section 336 to continue to require digital broadcasters to serve the public interest, we conclude that digital broadcasters are subject to all of the CTA's commercial limits and educational and informational programming requirements. Digital broadcasters must also continue to comply with our policies regarding program-commercial separation," host selling, and program-length commercials. The purpose of this proceeding is to determine how these requirements should be interpreted and adapted with respect to digital broadcasting in light of the new capabilities made possible by that technology.

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13. We request comment herein on a variety of issues related to application of our existing children's programming rules to digital broadcasting. We also invite comment on a number of specific

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Notice of Inquiry, Public Interest Obligations of TV Broadcast Licensees, MM Docket No. 99360, 14 FCC Rcd 21633 (1999).

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47 U.S.C. § 336(d). That section also provides: "In the Commission's review of any application for renewal of a broadcast license for a television station that provides ancillary or supplementary services, the

' television licensee shall establish that all of its program services on the existing or advanced television spectrum are in the public interest.”

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Fifth Report and Order, Advanced Television Systems and Their Impact upon the Existing Television Broadcast Service, MM Docket No. 87-268, 12 FCC Rcd 12809, 12820 (1997) (“Fifth Report and Order"); 47 C.F.R. § 624(b).

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Children's programs are required to contain bumpers separating the program from adjacent commercial material. Bumpers must be at least 5 seconds long, and include messages such as “and now a word from our sponsor.”

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proposals offered by commenters responding to the NOI," and on some of the views expressed by the President's Advisory Committee on the Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters (“Advisory Committee”).** As we indicated in the NOI, the Advisory Committee, representing a broad cross-section of interests from industry, academia, and public interest organizations, submitted a report in 1998 containing recommendations on the public interest obligations digital television broadcasters should assume. Although the Advisory Committee focused on many issues beyond the scope of this proceeding, we will discuss below some of the recommendations of the committee and of individual participants that relate to children's television.

M.

ISSUES AND REQUEST FOR COMMENT

A. Educational and Informational Programming

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14. Background. One of the questions we posed in the NOI is how public interest obligations generally, including the obligation to provide children's educational and informational programming, apply to a DTV broadcaster that chooses to multicast. We also asked how we should take into account the fact that DTV broadcasters have the flexibility to vary the amount and quality of broadcast programming they offer throughout the day.” For example, a broadcaster could air 4 SDTV channels from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., switch to two higher definition channels from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., and finish with one HDTV channel for prime-time and late-night programming. "O Different broadcasters are likely to provide a different overall combination of broadcast hours and quality. We also note that DTV broadcasters may choose to devote a portion of their spectrum to either non-video services, such as datacasting, or to subscription broadcast services available only to viewers who pay a fee, consistent with the requirement that they provide at least one free, over-the-air video program service to viewers.

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Discussion. Our current three-hour children's core educational programming processing guideline applies to DTV broadcasters." We invite comment, however, on how the guideline should be applied in light of the myriad of possible ways that broadcasters may choose to use their DTV spectrum. Should the processing guideline apply to only one digital broadcasting program stream, to more than one program stream, or to all program streams the broadcaster chooses to provide ?^2 Should the guideline

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A list of the parties that filed comments in response to the Nol is attached as Appendix A. Only a few of these commenters addressed children's television issues specifically.

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See Advisory Committee on Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters, Charting the Digital Broadcasting Future: Final Report of the Advisory Committee on the Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters (1998).

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See 47 U.S.C. § 336(d) (“Nothing in this section shall be construed as relieving a television broadcasting station from its obligation to serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity."). See also Fifth Report and Order, 12 FCC Red at 12830 (“As we authorize digital service, ... broadcast licensees and the public are on notice that existing public interest requirements continue to apply to all broadcast licensees.").

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In its comments responding to the NOI, the Benton Foundation advocated applying the children's educational programming obligations to every "channel” a digital broadcaster provides. Benton Foundation Comments at 12. The Association of Local Television Stations (ALTV) would apply the children's advertising (continued....)

apply only to free broadcast services, or also to services offered for a fee? In this regard, we note that the CTA requires that television broadcast licensees serve the educational and informational needs of children “through the licensee's overall programming, including programming specifically designed to serve such needs.943 How should we interpret this phrase in terms of digital broadcasters' requirement to provide educational programming?

16. We also ask how the existing three-hour guideline would be best applied in the digital context. Commenters responding to questions posed in the NOI offer a number of suggestions as to how the processing guideline could be adapted to apply in a multicast environment. We welcome comment on these specific proposals, outlined below, as well as other suggestions for ways our guideline should be interpreted and adapted with respect to digital broadcasting. We also seek comment on when any new requirements that relate to digital broadcasting should become effective.

17. Proportional Hours. One approach, suggested by Children Now and People for Better TV," is that each digital television broadcaster be required to provide an amount of weekly core programming that is proportional to the three hour per week quantitative guideline. Specifically, these commenters propose that DTV broadcasters be required to devote three percent of their programmable broadcast hours per week to core educational programming. This three percent figure is derived by dividing the current 3 hour guideline by 105, or the total number of hours/week available for core programming during the 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. broadcast window (15 hours/day times 7 days/week equals 105 hours/week). Under this approach, to derive their quantitative core programming obligation, broadcasters would calculate their total digital broadcast hours per week, multiply that total by 3 percent, and round up to the closest five-tenths as half-hour segments are the smallest unit for programming under the definition of core programming. Broadcasters would be required to report this calculation in their quarterly Children's Television Programming Reports, which would determine the broadcaster's core programming obligation for the following quarter.*

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In light of the range of possible technical qualities available with DTV technology, from SDTV to HDTV with different datacasting and interactive capabilities included, we also invite comment on whether we should require broadcasters to provide core educational programming in a certain technical format. One approach would be to require broadcasters to use for core programming a technical format that is consistent with the overall quality of the broadcaster's other programming. Our concern in this regard is to ensure that broadcasters not segregate core programming consistently to the

(Continued from previous page) restrictions to each "free broadcast channel,” but not the educational programming obligations. ALTV argues that a digital station's compliance with its public interest obligations, including its educational programming requirements, should be based on an evaluation of its overall programming performance across all of the” free, broadcast digital services” it provides. This approach would give digital broadcasters the flexibility to create specialized services, such as a service devoted only to children's programming. ALTV also would not apply any content-related broadcasting requirements to pay services or other ancillary or supplementary services. ALTV Comments at 13-15.

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Children Now is a member of the People for Better TV steering committee. The Children Now comments were filed separately and included also as an attachment to the comments of People for Better TV.

19. The Children Now proportional hours proposal raises a number of questions. If we were to impose a 3 percent core programming obligation, what kind of programming should be included for purposes of calculating the overall number of hours of core programming a DTV broadcaster would be required to provide? Should the percent requirement apply only to free video programming (e.g., 3 percent of all free video programming must be core), or should the percent also apply to datacasting (e.g., 3 percent of all free video programming and datacasting must be core)? Should subscription programming be included in the calculation? Should the 3 percent figure apply to a DTV broadcasters' total amount of programming, or to each programming stream? In addition, how should we address how core programming should be distributed on the broadcaster's channels? Should we require broadcasters to air their core programming on their “primary" channel, or allow them the flexibility to decide how that programming should be distributed over their various program streams? We invite comment on the proportional hours proposal and on these related issues.

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20. Pay or Play. Children Now also suggests that, as a corollary to their proportional hours proposal, the Commission could adopt a “Pay or Play” model to allow digital broadcasters maximum flexibility in meeting their core programming obligation.“ Under this approach, once the core programming obligation is quantified, broadcasters would have the choice of meeting these obligations either through their own programming or by paying other networks or channels to air these hours for them, or a combination of both. Children Now points out that this model could promote partnerships among commercial broadcasters or among commercial and non-commercial broadcasters in a given market, and could provide much needed support to public broadcasters who have a strong commitment to core programming. Children Now also notes, however, that, under such a model, children's programming could be limited to public broadcasting or to less popular commercial stations, resulting in less exposure to such programming for children. Another concern is that commercial broadcasters may not pay public broadcasters or less successful commercial broadcasters enough to fund high quality children's programming which could, in the end, result in an overall reduction in the quality of core programs. We note that the Commission's rules currently allow broadcasters, under certain conditions, to meet their CTA obligation by sponsoring core programs aired on another station in the same market. We invite comment on the “Pay or Play” approach and the advantages and disadvantages of adopting

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Children Now offers a proposal to address this issue. Children Now would require that core programming be offered with the same proportion of technological advances that the broadcaster chooses to use in its overall programming. Under this proposal, in their quarterly reports broadcasters would be required to calculate the "digital viewer experience quality" or "DVEQ” of their non-core programming (e.g., the number of hours broadcast in HDTV with streaming datacast, the number of hours broadcast in SDTV as part of a four-channel multicast with no multiplexing, etc.). Once the overall DVEQ distribution is computed, broadcasters would be required to offer in their core programming at least proportionally the same technical capabilities as offered in their overall programming. Children Now Comments at 35-36.

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See 47 C.F.R. § 73.671 Note 2. With respect to program sponsorship, that section provides: “Licensees that do not meet these processing guidelines will be referred to the Commission, where they will have full opportunity to demonstrate compliance with the CTA (e.g., by relying in part on sponsorship of core educational/informational programs on other stations in the market that increases the amount of core educational and informational programming on the station airing the sponsored program and/or on special nonbroadcast efforts which enhance the value of children's educational and informational television programming).