Only Supporters of Current TV Ratings are Trade Groups Overseeing Them, Says PTC

from NAB, MPAA and NCTA that run the TV ratings oversight body. The vast majority of the 1,700-plus public comments in the proceeding “expressed at least some level of concern, consternation or dissatisfaction,” PTC said. The associations cautioned the FCC in their own reply comments that altering the system is outside FCC authority and the intent of legislative language that prompted the proceeding. “Remain focused on the specific congressional mandate, which is to provide information in the form of a report, and not to accept entreaties to exceed statutory authority or constitutional limits,” they said. National Religious Broadcasters opposes regulation of TV content, but said the trade groups’ statistics indicated parents have difficulty using the ratings system. Forty-eight percent "of parents it surveyed say they ‘understand very well’ the TV content ratings system,” NRB said, on a Hart Research report commissioned and entered into the record by NAB, MPAA and NCTA. That “seems to suggest that at the very least there are many parents who have questions about how those ratings are assigned, overseen, or best utilized by parents,” NRB said. “Unfortunately, many industry giants are either not aware of or not sufficiently attentive to this need.” PTC understands the current review is narrow in scope: “But it is unfathomable that the conclusion of this review could in any way suggest that no improvement is warranted.”