Senate Takes Up Pryor Safe TV Bill

The Senate could be close to sending President Bush a bill that would require federal media regulators to study parents' access to technologies that are capable of shielding children from inappropriate content on television and the Internet. The Child Safe Viewing Act, sponsored by Sen Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas), passed the Senate once. The House also passed it in October but stripped out various findings, requiring re-passage by the Senate. Senate leaders, back on Capitol Hill Monday for a lame duck session, "hotlined" Pryor's bill (S. 602), which means it will be considered passed as soon as tomorrow if no senator files an objection.

The bill requires the Federal Communications Commission to initiate a notice of inquiry to consider measures to examine:

1) the existence and availability of advanced blocking technologies that are compatible with various communications devices or platforms; and

2) methods of encouraging the development, deployment, and use of such technology by parents that do not affect the packaging or pricing of a content provider's offering.