V-Chip Parental Controls

In case you are not familiar with the FCC, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is responsible for regulating the American airwaves including interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable.

The FCC now requires that any television manufactured after January 1, 2000 with a picture screen of 13 inches or larger must be equipped with V-Chip technology. The V-Chip is able to effectively block the display of television programs based on their ratings. Parents and other caregivers can select which ratings are to be blocked to prevent children from watching shows they feel are inappropriate.

The industry established a system for rating programming that contains sexual, violent or other material parents may deem inappropriate and voluntarily include these ratings in their broadcast signals.

The ratings are displayed on the television screen for the first 15 seconds of rated programming and, in conjunction with the V-Chip, permit parents to block programming with a certain rating from displaying on their home televisions.

Ratings include: TV-Y, TV-Y7, TV-G, TV-PG, TV-14, and TV-MA

Viewing Angles At-A-Glance

• All television sets over 13 inches that were manufactured after January 1, 2000 are required to have V-Chip technology.
• V-Chip technology enables parents and caregivers to block shows they feel are inappropriate from playing on their home televisions by using a rating system.
• Ratings include: TV-Y, TV-Y7, TV-G, TV-PG, TV-14, and TV-MA.

Source: http://www.fcc.gov »