V-chip is a technology used in television set receivers in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and the United States, that allows the blocking of programs based on their ratings category. It is intended for use by parents to manage their children's television viewing based on blocking systems. Televisions manufactured for the United States market since January 2000 are required to have the V-chip technology. Since the idea for blocking programs in this way was patented and tested in Canada by Brett West and John P. Gardner in 1994, the device remains in use into the age of digital television, however it only blocks programming from standard cable and broadcast television and does not block news, sportscasting, movies on premium cable channels, or streamed programs via the internet.
Analog V-chip technology works much like closed captioning and uses the vertical blanking interval in the television signal. The system receives a special code in the broadcast signal that indicates the show's score according to a simple numerical rating system for violence, sex, and language.Montgomery, Kathryn C. Generation Digital:politics, commerce, and childhood in the age of the internet. (2007) The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press. The programs' signals are encoded based on their rating, on line 21 of the broadcast signal's vertical blanking interval using the XDS protocol, and this is detected by the television set's V-chip. If the program rating is outside the level configured as acceptable on that particular television, the program will be blocked. The V-chip does not block infomercial, news or sportscasts, which are unrated.
The V-chip has a four-digit numerical password in order to keep older children from changing its settings. The V-chip can be overridden by anyone who reads the television's instruction and finds out how to reset the password to 0000 (built into the V-chip in case the parents themselves forget the password that they set).
The phrase "V-chip" was purportedly coined by then-Representative Ed Markey of Massachusetts. According to him the "V" stands for "violence". By contrast, in an interview with Tim Collings, one of the people who claim to have invented the device, he said that it was intended to stand for "viewer control".
History In 1975, the Family Viewing Hour was introduced in the United States, in which broadcasters had to play TV content suitable for all ages. This idea was quickly abandoned because broadcasters felt it violated their First Amendment rights by restricting what content they could play. The inventor of the V-chip technology originally meant for it to be a simple tool that parents could use to restrict their children's television viewing. He did not expect it would become a national standard for all televisions.
Implementation In 1993, Keith Spicer met with top American executives and disclosed information about the V-Chip Technology. "Tim Collings' creation holds promise in the future of the television industry, and the more exposure achieved, the more nations are able to benefit." Discussions took place about the increasing amount of violence on TV and the importance of monitoring and blocking shows. This sparked interest, but no steps were taken for implementation. In 1994 the technology was presented at a Violence on TV conference in France and later again at a conference in Belgium. This is where Al Gore first became familiarized with the concept of the V-Chip and the exposure helped him to advise Bill Clinton, which led to the decision to pass the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Once the V-Chip gained the ability to block multiple shows at the same time interest in the technology expanded significantly. In January 1998 exclusive rights to the V-Chip were sold to Tri-Vision Electronics Inc.
Forces leading to development
Scientific-technical While at Colombia College, Joseph N. Jackson created the idea for a programmable device that could block viewing at certain times. This eventually became the precursor to the V-chip. In Canada in the early 1990s, studies on the possible effects of television on violence were conducted by the Canadian Radio-Television Commission, a committee of Parliament, and Heritage Canada. The reports all concluded that violence on television in Canada was a serious problem.
The V-chip gained popularity when it was revealed at a Technology Exposition at the G7 meetings in Brussels in 1995.
Political One of the driving forces of the development of the V-chip was the signing of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 by President Bill Clinton. The television industry was given the opportunity to establish ratings for its programming. The act also ordered that half of all television sets at least 13″ after July 1, 1999, had to have the V-chip installed and that all television sets at least 13″ after January 1, 2000, had to have it installed. In addition, the Federal Communications Commission supported the act and worked to enforce it.
The Telecommunications Act The V-chip was an added provision in Bill Clinton's Telecommunications Act of 1996. He said, "If every parent uses this chip wisely, it can become a powerful voice against teen violence, teen pregnancy, teen drug use, and for both learning and entertainment," as he signed the law on February 8, 1996. "We're handing the TV remote control back to America's parents so that they can pass on their values and protect their children." The addition of the V-chip into the Telecommunications Act was helpful to attract American voters for the 1996 Clinton-Gore campaign.
The portion of the overall act that affects the V-chip is of Title V. This section, "Obscenity and Violence," addresses the influence parents may have over their children's viewing capabilities on cable television. Section 551, Parental Choice in Television Programming, outlines the effects that violence has on the youth of a nation and addresses how parents should exercise the control to limit and/or block what information their children are in fact viewing and what is being broadcast into their private homes. Also addressed is the inclusion of the implementation of a rating code for violence within television programming. Parents should be informed of the content of a program prior to its airing so that appropriate precautions may be made to protect their children from said material. The V-Chip technology would be employed in such an event.
Ratings
In 1996, the United States Congress decreed that the television industry should create a voluntary rating system for its shows called the TV parental guidelines. Three main associations (the National Association of Broadcasters, the National Cable Television Association, and the Motion Picture Association of America) would establish this rating system. Along with the three founding associations, the chairman of the FCC would select five members of the advocacy community to participate in establishing television ratings. Altogether the FCC chairman, six members from each broadcasting industry and the five non-industry members make up a total of 24 participants. These ratings are the icons that appear in the corner of the television screen at the beginning of every show and after each commercial break for many broadcasters. These ratings include TV-Y, TV-Y7, TV-Y7-FV, TV-G, TV-PG, TV-14, and TV-MA.
TV-Y includes all television programs designed to be appropriate for all children. TV-Y7 programs are directed to older children, specifically aged 7 and above. TV-Y7-FV programs are also directed to older children aged 7 and above with the addition that this rating denotes fantasy or animated violence. TV-G includes programs appropriate for all ages because it contains little to no violence, no strong language, and little to no sexual situations. TV-PG programs may include materials that parents may find unsuitable, including moderate violence, some sexual situations, or infrequent coarse language. TV-14 programs have parents strongly cautioned for materials unsuitable for children under 14 years of age. Finally, TV-MA programs are specifically designed to be viewed by adults aged 17 and up.
Invention and patent
Invention Tim Collings states he developed the V-chip technology while he was an engineering professor at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, but he did not obtain a patent on the technology.
Patent An idea for blocking programs in this way was patented by Brett West and John P. Gardner in 1994 and tested in Canada. The patent was number 5,550,575. Two others separately patented devices similar or identical to the V-chip: John Olivo of Parental Guide of Omaha, and an Air Force captain by the name of Carl Elam. Collings, Olivo, and Elam all claim to have invented the technology.
Criticisms
Usage On April 25, 2007, the Federal Communications Commission released a report entitled In the Matter of Violent Television Programming And Its Impact On Children. The report discusses the low usage of V-chip technology. In its analysis, the report addresses the following studies:
According to a 2003 study, parents' low level of V-chip use is explained in part by their unawareness of the device and the "multi-step and often confusing process" necessary to use it. Only 27% of all parents in the study group could figure out how to program the V-chip, and many parents "who might otherwise have used the V-Chip were frustrated by an inability to get it to work properly."
The Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a telephone survey in 2004 of 1,001 parents of children ages 2–17. The results of that survey showed: 15% of all parents had used the V-chip 26% of all parents had not bought a new television set since January 2000, when the V-chip was first required in all televisions 39% of all parents had bought a new television set since January 2000, but did not think it even included a V-chip 20% of all parents knew they had a V-chip, but had not used it.(2004) Parents, Media and Public Policy: A Kaiser Family Foundation Survey. Program for the Study of Media and Health, Publication No. 7156, September 23, pp. 7. Retrieved from kff.org
A March 2007 Zogby poll indicated, among other things, that 88% of respondents did not use a V-chip or cable box parental controls in the previous week, leading the Parents Television Council to call the television industry's V-chip education campaign a failure. This poll did not measure whether parents were aware of the V-chip and chose not to use it.
The networks feared that a single profanity would block an entire program. They also feared that they would lose advertising revenue because advertisers would not pay for time slots during programs that might be blocked.
Lack of supporting research The American Civil Liberties Union argues, "Research has not proven that watching violence on television causes watchers to commit violence" citing the Federal Trade Commission's Marketing Violent Entertainment to Children: A Review of the Self-Regulation and Industry Practices in the Motion Picture, Music Recording, & Electronic Game Industries report in September 2001 as support. In ACLU's website, ACLU quoted the FTC in saying, "Most researchers and investigators agree that exposure to media violence alone does not cause a child to commit a violent act, and that it is not the sole, or even the most important, factor in contributing to youth aggression, anti-social attitudes, and violence."American Civil Liberties Union. (2004, September 15). ACLU Comments to the Federal Communications Commission re: MB Docket No. 04-261, the Matter of Violent Television Programming and Its Impact on Children. Retrieved February 12, 2008, from aclu.org