Repeal the Children's Television Act of 1990

We can't have prohibition in children's programming, any longer. The Children's Television Act of 1990 has caused more problems than it has solved. Because of this, the children of this generation have nothing to share with the children of the next generation- all they get is less children's programming on broadcast television and nothing memorable to watch.

At the same time, because the FCC makes it mandatory for TV stations to air three hours of educational and informational programming a week, the TV stations let their networks bail them out and do nothing, themselves. The TV stations need to take responsibility for supplying the educational and informational programming and not rely on their networks to bail them out, but that doesn't solve the problem. There's too much educational and informational programming on TV, and it seems that there's no room for the entertainment, and entertainment brings in the ratings.

I understand the industry of children's programming and entertainment has and will always be the strength that brings in both the ratings and the profits. Before the Children's Television Act of 1990 was enacted, the programmers and the broadcast networks got the ratings and the profits, because the programs they were running made the money for the motion picture industry, the toy making industry, comic book companies, storybook publishers, video game companies and helped to promote their prime-time counterparts, etc. Not everyone has cable, VCRs, DVD players or video game components, and it's those children in those situations that are being affected the most. Children of this generation don't need to be schooled on Saturday morning with educational and informational programming with absolutely no entertainment value.

They're not watching, because there's no entertainment for them to see, which helps get their minds off the stresses of going to school. Haven't we had enough of this? We don't care what people like Peggy Charren say, anymore- children should not ever have to suffer, because of someone's political agendas. Furthermore, we need a lot less government involvement in what our children watch on television- they needn't worry about violence- that's why the networks have Standards and Practices to curb that.

Whatever way programmers program for their children, provided it doesn't affect them, should be their right and their freedom. That's why we have the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which was written without special exceptions that permit controls on speech of children. We need someone in Washington that actually puts children first, ahead of their own political agendas.

We, the loyal fans of children's programming, past and present, call on both Congress and the FCC to repeal the Children's Television Act of 1990 and reform its E/I mandate.