TV Parental Guidelines
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The TV Parental Guidelines are a
television content rating system Television content rating systems are systems for Content rating, evaluating the content and reporting the suitability of television programs for Minor (law), minors. Many countries have their own television evaluation, rating system and countrie ...
in the United States that was first proposed on December 19, 1996, by the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
, the television industry and the federal communication commission (FCC), and went into effect by January 1, 1997, on most major
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and
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s in response to public concerns about increasingly explicit sexual content, graphic violence and strong profanity in television programs. It was established as a voluntary-participation system, with ratings to be determined by the individual participating broadcast and cable networks. The ratings are generally applied to most television series, television films and edited broadcast or basic cable versions of theatrically released films; premium channels also assign ratings from the TV Parental Guidelines on broadcasts of some films that have been released theatrically or on
home video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...
, either if the
Motion Picture Association of America The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distribu ...
did not assign a
rating A rating is an evaluation or assessment of something, in terms of quality, quantity, or some combination of both. Rating or ratings may also refer to: Business and economics * Credit rating, estimating the credit worthiness of an individual, c ...
for the film or if the channel airs an unrated version of a film. The ratings were designed to be used with the
V-chip V-chip is a technology used in television set receivers in Canada, 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 view ...
, which was mandated to be built into all television sets manufactured since 2000 (and the vast majority of cable/satellite
set-top box A set-top box (STB), also colloquially known as a cable box and historically television decoder, is an information appliance device that generally contains a TV-tuner input and displays output to a television set and an external source of sign ...
es), but the guidelines themselves have no legal force, and are not used on sports or news programs or during commercial advertisements. Many online television services, such as
Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...
,
Amazon Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service pri ...
, and
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
also use the guidelines system, along with digital video vendors such as the
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and
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and
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s, including the
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,
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,
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, and
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platforms.


Development of the guidelines

In the
Telecommunications Act of 1996 The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is a United States federal law enacted by the 104th United States Congress on January 3, 1996, and signed into law on February 8, 1996, by President Bill Clinton. It primarily amended Chapter 5 of Title 47 of t ...
, the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
called upon the entertainment industry to establish, within one year, a voluntary television rating system to provide parents with advance information on material in television programming that might be unsuitable for their children. This rating system would work in conjunction with the
V-chip V-chip is a technology used in television set receivers in Canada, 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 view ...
, a device embedded in television sets that enables parents to block programming they determine to be inappropriate. On February 29, 1996, all segments of the entertainment industry, led by the
National Association of Broadcasters The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a trade association and lobby group representing the interests of commercial and non-commercial over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States. The NAB represents more than ...
(NAB), the
National Cable & Telecommunications Association NCTA – The Internet & Television Association (formerly the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, and commonly known as the NCTA) is the principal trade association for the U.S. broadband and pay television industries. It represents ...
(NCTA), and the
Motion Picture Association of America The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distribu ...
(MPAA), joined together and voluntarily pledged to create such a system. They agreed that the guidelines would be applied by broadcast and cable networks in order to handle the large amount of programming that must be reviewed – some 2,000 hours a day. The guidelines would be applied episodically to all programming based on their content, except for news, sports and advertising. The same year on December 19, the industry announced the creation of the TV Parental Guidelines, a voluntary system of guidelines providing parents with information to help them make more informed choices about the television programs their children watch. The guidelines were modeled after the movie ratings system created by the
Motion Picture Association of America The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distribu ...
in 1968. The television industry agreed to insert a ratings icon on-screen at the beginning of all rated programs, and to encode the guidelines for use with the V-chip. The industry also created a Monitoring Board, composed of TV industry experts, to ensure accuracy, uniformity and consistency of the guidelines and to consider any public questions about the guideline applied to a particular program. The TV Parental Guidelines went into use on January 1, 1997. In response to calls to provide additional content information in the ratings system, on August 1, 1997, the television industry, in conjunction with representatives of children's and medical advocacy groups, announced revisions to the rating system. Under this revised system, television programming would continue to fall into one of the six ratings categories (TV-Y, TV-Y7, TV-G, TV-PG, TV-14 or TV-MA), but content descriptors would be added to the ratings where appropriate, based on the type(s) of objectionable content included in the individual program or episode: D (suggestive dialogue), L (coarse language), S (sexual content), V (violence) and FV (fantasy violence – a descriptor exclusively for use in the TV-Y7 category). Further, the proposal stated that the icons and associated content symbols would appear for 15 seconds at the beginning of all rated programming, and that the size of the icons would be increased. The revised guidelines were supported by leading family and child advocacy groups, as well as television broadcasters, cable systems and networks, and television production companies. Finally, the revised proposal called for five representatives of the advocacy community to be added to the TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board. On March 12, 1998, the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
found that the Industry Video Programming Rating System was acceptable, and adopted technical requirements for the V-chip. In June 2021, creators, writers, and directors of
children's animation This is a list of children's animated television series (including internet television series); that is, animated programs originally targeted towards audiences aged 12 and under in mind. This list does not include Japanese, Chinese, or Korean s ...
in a report for the website ''
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'' said that one of the forms of pressure to have less overt depiction of LGBTQ+ characters or culture was the TV Parental Guidelines system, resulting in domestic and international content being cut out of episodes. One of the criticisms was that the rarely updated guidelines offer no guidance on LGBTQ+ representation and the ratings are only changed "in the face of complaints".


Ratings

The direct description of each rating from the TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board is listed above the extended ratings description in italics.


TV-Y

''This program is designed to be appropriate for all children.''
Designed to be appropriate for children of all ages. The thematic elements portrayed in programs with this rating are specifically designed for a very young audience.


TV-Y7

''This program is designed for children age 7 and above.''
Designed for children age 7 and older. The FCC states that it "may be more appropriate for children who have acquired the developmental skills needed to distinguish between make-believe and reality". The thematic elements portrayed in programs with this rating contain mild fantasy and comedic violence. ''Programs where fantasy violence may be more intense or more combative.''
Programs given the "FV" content descriptor exhibit more 'fantasy violence' and are generally more intense or combative than other programs rated TV-Y7.


TV-G

''Most parents will find this program suitable for all ages.''
Programs are generally suitable for all audiences, though they may not necessarily contain content of interest to children. The FCC states that "this rating does not signify a program designed specifically for children, ndmost parents may let younger children watch this program unattended". The thematic elements portrayed in programs with this rating contain little or no violence, mild language, and little or no sexual dialogue or situations.


TV-PG

''This program contains material that parents may find unsuitable for younger children.''
Programs may contain some material that parents or guardians may find inappropriate for younger children. Programs assigned a TV-PG rating may include infrequent coarse language, some sexual content, some suggestive dialogue, or moderate violence.


TV-14

''This program contains material that most parents would find unsuitable for children under 14 years of age.''
Programs contain material that parents or adult guardians may find unsuitable for children under the age of 14. The FCC warns that "parents are cautioned to exercise some care in monitoring this program and are cautioned against letting children under the age of 14 watch unattended". Programs with this rating contain intensely suggestive dialogue, strong coarse language, intense sexual situations or intense violence.


TV-MA

''This program is specifically designed to be viewed by adults and therefore may be unsuitable for children under 17.''
Contains content that may be unsuitable for children. This rating was originally TV-M prior to the announced revisions to the rating system in August 1997 but was changed due to a trademark dispute and in order to remove confusion with the
Entertainment Software Rating Board The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings to consumer video games in the United States and Canada. The ESRB was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Asso ...
's (ESRB) "M for Mature" rating for
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. This rating is rarely used by broadcast networks or local television stations due to FCC restrictions on program content, although it is commonly applied to television programs featured on certain
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s (basic and premium networks) and streaming networks for both mainstream and softcore programs. Programs with this rating may include crude indecent language, explicit sexual activity and graphic violence.


Content descriptors

Some thematic elements, according to the FCC, "may call for parental guidance and/or the program may contain one or more of the following" sub-ratings, designated with an alphabetic letter: * D – Sexual or suggestive dialogue (not used with the TV-MA rating) * L – Coarse or crude language * S – Sexual situations * V – Violence ** FV – Fantasy violence (exclusive to the TV-Y7 rating) Up to four content descriptors can be applied alongside an assigned rating, depending on the kind of suggestive content featured in a program; the FV descriptor is an exception due to its sole use for the TV-Y7 rating, which can have no descriptor other than FV. As the rating increases pertaining to the age, the content matters generally get more intensive. These descriptors allow for 44 possible combinations for all the ratings total. The "suggestive dialogue" descriptor is used for TV-PG and TV-14 rated programs only, but rarely TV-MA. The violence descriptor was used for TV-Y7 programs from August 1997 until the creation of the 'FV' descriptor later that year. Unofficially, broadcast television networks and syndicators have sparingly applied " E/I" (separately used as a specific identifier for children's programs) as an informal content descriptor for select TV-Y, TV-Y7, and TV-G programs that are designed to meet the educational and informative needs of children. A minimum of three hours of E/I-compliant programming must be broadcast per week by each television network, with exemptions and looser regulations applying to
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s; all E/I programs must air between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. While the descriptors were specifically developed for the Parental Guidelines system,
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(except for some subscription add-ons sold through its Apple TV Channels marketplace) applies the system's descriptors to theatrically released films rated under the
Motion Picture Association The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distribu ...
's proprietary ratings system, in lieu of other content advisory descriptions (such as the more specific advisory system used by premium cable services, including those sold through the Apple TV platform);
Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...
typically restricts on-screen ratings and content descriptors to its original programming and licensed films. On-screen ratings for original and licensed television series are featured on premium channel add-ons sold through Hulu to its VOD-only and VOD/live TV subscribers, though not on series licensed from its network and distribution partners. Rather than use the default content descriptors, other streaming services like
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,
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, Prime Video and Netflix (the latter basing ratings and content information for original and some licensed series on the program's overall maturity level, rather than on an episode-to-episode basis) may provide more concise detail of the thematic material in a particular title alongside the title’s rating.


Design

For the first 15 seconds of every rated program lasting a half-hour or less, a large rating icon appears in the upper-left hand corner of the screen; previously this had a common design using a universal icon, but now often goes with a network's branding and
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or, for some streaming services like Netflix, HBO Max and Disney+, merely denotes the rating and details of mature material in a program in a straight line of text. The icon was much smaller until June 2005 and only appeared on-screen for 7.5 seconds. For every rated program running an hour or longer, a rating appears in the upper-left hand corner of the television screen at the beginning of each half-hour. Starting in June 2005, many networks now display the ratings after every commercial break, in addition to the beginning of the program. Ratings icons formerly appeared in the 4:3 safe area, even with a 16:9 HD-designed presentation, but have moved into the top-left corner of the 16:9 picture as time has gone on.


Viewer discretion advisories

Some programs may voluntarily display a disclaimer regarding the show's objectionable content with the TV rating prior to the program starting, along with audibly repeating the same, with the reason for the rating (e.g. suggestive dialogue, drug and alcohol abuse, language, sexual situations, violence, nudity) and strongly cautioning parents to decide whether the program is suitable for their children. Several channels (including
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and
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) insert special caution boards for horror programs at the end of commercial breaks, almost always occurring before a series uses the word "
fuck ''Fuck'' is an English-language expletive. It often refers to the act of sexual intercourse, but is also commonly used as an intensifier or to convey disdain. While its origin is obscure, it is usually considered to be first attested to aro ...
" in uncensored dialogue. Viewer discretion advisories are mostly used for programs rated TV-MA or series where most episodes are TV-14-rated with lighter content. They are also commonly used for television broadcasts of theatrical films; this, however, depends highly on the content and rating (alternatively, said content might also be edited out).


See also

*
Television content rating systems Television content rating systems are systems for evaluating the content and reporting the suitability of television programs for minors. Many countries have their own television rating system and countries' rating processes vary by local prior ...
*
United States pay television content advisory system The United States pay television content advisory system is a television content rating system developed cooperatively by the American pay television industry; it first went into effect on March 1, 1994, on cable-originated premium channels owne ...
*
Motion Picture Association film rating system The Motion Picture Association film rating system is used in the United States and its territories to rate a motion picture's suitability for certain audiences based on its content. The system and the ratings applied to individual motion pictures ...
* Canadian TV rating systems


References


External links


TV Parental Guidelines
– Official site
V-Chip
at the FCC website {{DEFAULTSORT:Tv Parental Guidelines Entertainment rating organizations Media content ratings systems Mass media in the United States Television in the United States 1997 establishments in the United States Organizations established in 1997 1997 introductions 1997 in American television