******************************************************** NOTICE ******************************************************** This document was converted from WordPerfect to ASCII Text format. Content from the original version of the document such as headers, footers, footnotes, endnotes, graphics, and page numbers will not show up in this text version. All text attributes such as bold, italic, underlining, etc. from the original document will not show up in this text version. Features of the original document layout such as columns, tables, line and letter spacing, pagination, and margins will not be preserved in the text version. If you need the complete document, download the WordPerfect version or Adobe Acrobat version, if available. ***************************************************************** DA 97-1479 July 11, 1997 Mr. Martin D. Franks Senior Vice President, Washington CBS, Inc. One Farragut Square South 1634 I Street, N.W., Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20006 Re: Preemption of Children's Television Educational and Informational Programming Dear Mr. Franks: This refers to your request for clarification of the children's television educational and informational programming regulations that become effective on September 1, 1997. In particular, you requested clarification regarding preemption of regularly scheduled children's educational and informational, or "core," programming. In the Children's Television Report and Order, we required that, among other things, a children's program must be "regularly scheduled" to be counted as "core" programming for purposes of meeting the three-hour-per-week processing guideline for educational and informational programming, i.e., -- a "core" children's program must "be scheduled to air at least once a week" and "must air on a regular basis." The Commission stated that television series typically air in the same time slot for 13 consecutive weeks, although some episodes may be preempted for programs such as breaking news or live sports events. Programming that is aired on a regular basis is more easily anticipated and located by viewers, and can Mr. Martin D. Franks 2. build loyalty that will improve its chance for commercial success. The Commission noted that qualifying core programming should be regularly scheduled in view of the Commission's emphasis on improving the flow of information to parents through published program guides and other means to enable them to select educational and informational programs for their children. Finally, the Commission stated that it would leave to the staff to determine, with guidance from the full Commission as necessary, what constitutes regularly scheduled programming and what level of preemption is allowable. You requested that local television stations be given the flexibility to reschedule the episodes of core programs that are preempted by live network sports events without adversely impacting the program's status as "regularly scheduled," and set forth a proposal for advising viewers of scheduling changes and for minimizing the disruptive impact of rescheduling on viewers. You also endorse ABC's proposal with respect to coverage of breaking news in which a children's program series would not lose its status as "regularly scheduled" if certain episodes are not broadcast because they are preempted for breaking news events and coverage of issues related to breaking news. Such preempted episodes would continue to count toward computing the three-hour average regardless of whether they are rescheduled and broadcast. In your letter you state that your core children's programming will not be offered to your owned stations and affiliates as a "block." Rather, each station will have the option to schedule each program in a mutually acceptable time period. Under these circumstances, you state that you cannot definitively predict the individual core programming scheduling decisions of each individual owned station and affiliate. You state, however, you can provide specific guidance on a "worst case" level of network sports preemptions. You state that CBS's owned stations will be directed to schedule three hours of core children's television programming during the 9/13/97-9/5/98 season. Your letter indicates that you expect that your owned and affiliated stations will run core programming on Saturday mornings. You explain that your Saturday morning children's programming season begins on the second Saturday in September. Since the Commission's processing guideline goes into effect on September 1, you ask that the network owned and affiliated stations which otherwise meet the three-hour processing guideline will not be deemed to have failed to meet it solely Mr. Martin D. Franks 3. because of the mid-September premiere of a network schedule offering the requisite number of hours of core programming. You note that coverage of live network sports events, primarily college sports, will affect the broadcast of core programming if it is regularly scheduled on Saturday morning. You state that the CBS core children's programming will be preempted by your owned and affiliated stations on 14 dates for an estimated total of up to 17 hours. You state that you expect that almost all of these preemptions will occur in the "third" hour of core programming (i.e., noon to 1 p.m.). You state that the series episodes preempted from their noon -1 p.m. ET slot would be rescheduled within one week to an alternative "regularly scheduled" time period of the station's choice (a fixed "second home"), with attendant publicity and promotion, and sufficient notice to listing services to ensure the accuracy of program guides. As an example of the more general promotion campaign you contemplate, you state that you will promote your weekend core children's programming block both to children and their parents during your new Friday night schedule, which is designed to appeal to families. You further state that because your fixed "second home" would not be available for the up to four enumerated hours of programs that will be preempted from their 10 a.m. to noon ET slot, CBS's owned and affiliated stations need flexibility to allow these programs to be prescheduled or rescheduled to any core time period within two weeks before or after the preemption, with appropriate publicity and promotion. During the first year that our new children's television core programming definition takes effect, the Commission and broadcasters alike will be working to identify the most effective ways to implement the requirement to provide children's regularly-scheduled, core programming. During this first year, we believe that it is appropriate to allow the Commission and local stations to gain experience with regard to the scheduling of children's core programming that may be preempted by live network sports events. We will, of course, revisit our conclusions here, detailed below, based on the experience gained during the 1997/98 season. Early next spring, the Mass Media Bureau will report to the Commission regarding the effect of preemption on children's educational and Mr. Martin D. Franks 4. informational programming, the impact of promotion, and other steps taken by the stations to make children's educational programming a success. The Bureau will make recommendations regarding future interpretation of "regularly scheduled" programming, based on information obtained with your cooperation. The Bureau's analysis will allow the Commission to consider the effect of implementation of the rules and to decide how to proceed in time to give direction to the networks and broadcasters well in advance of the next year's season. At that time, the Commission also will be better able to determine whether to establish general parameters or guidelines, and, if so, what those parameters or guidelines should be. In these limited circumstances, and based solely on the worst case scenario you have presented to us regarding anticipated preemption levels for the 1997/98 season, we conclude that your proposal for promoting and rescheduling preempted programming that otherwise meets the core programming definition, if followed by owned and affiliated stations, will not run afoul of our children's television rules. Turning to the specifics of your proposal, notification to publishers of program guides with the alternate date/time in advance of any core programming preemption for live network sports is essential to assist parents who use these guides to plan their children's television viewing. Your proposed measure is thus consistent with scheduling continuity and predictability in this area. In addition, we expect that your owned and affiliated stations will adopt the same on-air notification measures proposed by ABC and NBC, to notify viewers of the preemption both during the broadcast of the previous regularly scheduled episode of the program and at the time of the preemption. In addition, we believe that your plans to promote aggressively the Saturday morning educational programming during prime time on Friday evenings will help to ensure the success of children's educational and informational programming by focusing the attention of viewers on your core programming. We also find reasonable that stations that preempt a children's core program be able to count that program toward their core programming obligation if the program is rescheduled within one week to a fixed "second home" of the station's choice for each broadcast season. This seems likely to serve our goal of maintaining predictability for the children's audience and will assist in maintaining programming continuity for parents and children. It also appears reasonable that network owned and affiliated stations which otherwise meet the three-hour processing guideline will not be deemed to have failed to meet it solely because of the mid-September premiere of your network schedule offering the requisite Mr. Martin D. Franks 5. number of hours of core programming. This is a one-time only occurrence since the core programming schedule will be in place before the start of the 1998/1999 television season. In contrast, we have concerns about your proposal that stations, at their option, reschedule programs to any core time period (i.e., between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.) within two weeks before or after the preemption. By reducing predictability for viewers, such open ended scheduling latitude has the potential negatively to affect predictability and availability of core programming for the children's audience. While it would be preferable for stations to reschedule a preempted program to a fixed "second home," if a station is unable to do so, we are willing to approve your proposal with the expectation that stations will make other good faith efforts to maintain scheduling predictability. We expect such situations to be limited to isolated circumstances. In our evaluation next year of the impact of rescheduling practices, we will assess the success of these efforts. We conclude that it is appropriate, as you suggest, to exempt from the above provisions core programming that is preempted for breaking news. In our opinion, breaking news includes live coverage of news events and other coverage that in the broadcaster's good faith judgment is directly related to or logically a part of breaking news. Presentation of breaking news is plainly in the public interest. By definition, such programming is unpredictable, so that promotion is impractical. Moreover, while we would encourage stations to reschedule preempted programming in these circumstances, we believe such preemption will happen sufficiently infrequently that a station's failure to reschedule a preempted episode would not defeat a station's programming otherwise qualifying as core on this basis. We will revisit our conclusion if we determine, based on experience gained during the 1997/98 season, that this exemption has resulted in more preemptions than anticipated. In summary, as discussed in detail above, we accept your proposals regarding rescheduling and promotion of preempted children's core programming. We note that although we address your specific requests regarding network scheduling, it remains the duty of each television broadcaster to comply with the requirements of the Children's Television Report and Order. The Commission will continue to review each licensee's performance to ensure compliance with the rules. Mr. Martin D. Franks 6. We believe that this response will provide stations owned by or affiliated with your network that adhere to the circumstances and proposals outlined with sufficient flexibility regarding preempted children's core programming while preserving a reasonably regular schedule to facilitate children's access to this programming. Sincerely, Roy J. Stewart Chief, Mass Media Bureau