Three prominent advertising associations have asked the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider rules that could have a negative impact on advertising in children’s programming.
The Association of National Advertisers along with the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the American Advertising Federation, said that the FCC erred when it recently made two significant changes in the rules governing children’s programming. The rules are: redefining “commercial matter” and removing the exclusion of internal promotional spots for other programs on the same channel; and imposing serious restrictions on the display of commercial Web site addresses during children’s programming.
“The new FCC rules would impose a dramatic new squeeze on the amount of advertising time available during children’s programming,” Dan Jaffe, an ANA executive VP, said in a statement. “They would also place premature, speculative and unreasonable barriers on the interaction between TV and the Internet. These rules will harm advertisers, broadcasters, Web sites and ultimately children’s programming.”
The Children’s Television Act limits the amount of advertising in children’s TV programming to not more than 10.5 minutes per hour on weekends and not more than 12 minutes per hour on weekdays. The new FCC rule will force broadcasters to count promotions for upcoming shows on their channels toward those commercial time limits, thereby reducing the inventory of advertising time available, the associations said.
As for the restrictions on displaying Web site addresses during programming, the associations argued that the restrictions would thwart creativity and innovation in TV-Internet interactivity as well as eliminate a potential revenue stream that can support the programming.
Jaffe said the new rules “raise serious First Amendment and public policy concerns.
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