V-Chip Gets a Facelift

As NAB holds its Responsible Programming Summit Wednesday, a confab of broadcasters, regulators, citizen groups and others, meeting to discuss broadcast indecency, the TV networks are stepping up visibility of the V-Chip.
The V-Chip is a programmable electronic circuit in new televisions that helps parents block programming. Although V-Chips have been in TVs 13 inches or larger since 2000, many consumers do not know how to use it, so The Advertising Council and the four major networks are beginning a promotional campaign to raise public awareness of the V-Chip.
In what parties are calling “an unprecedented partnership,” The Advertising Council will work with each participating network – ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC – to develop PSAs with messages tailored to each network.
According to an Ad Council survey of parents with children aged 2-17, while most parents are concerned about age-appropriate television content, approximately 80% of parents who currently own a television set with a V-Chip don’t know they have it. Less than 10% of those surveyed are using the V-Chip, according to the survey.