The Bureaucrats' Favorite Gizmo THE V-CHIP IS POINTLESS AND BURDENSOME--BUT IT IS CONFUSING
By Marc Gunther

(FORTUNE Magazine) – The cost of watching "free" television is about to go up, thanks to regulators in Washington. Beginning next year, new TV sets must come equipped with a V-chip, a device that can be used to block TV shows with excessive violence, sexual content, or foul language. But the V-chip achieves a bureaucratic trifecta: it is pointless, confusing, and burdensome. What we have here is a gizmo only a politician could love.

The V-chip emerged from a long, mostly ill-informed congressional debate about TV violence that culminated with passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Last month the Federal Communications Commission gave final approval to the computer circuits that, when deployed in tandem with the content ratings developed under regulatory pressure by the TV networks, will block violent or racy shows.

Why, specifically, is the V-chip such a dumb idea?

The TV ratings system is hopelessly confusing. This isn't surprising, since TV violence and sexual content can't be reduced to a string of letters and numbers. Most networks now rate shows in seven age-group categories (TV-Y, TV-Y7, TV-Y7-FV, TV-G, TV-PG, TV-14, and TV-MA), and when appropriate add the letters "V" for violence, "S" for sexual content, "L" for foul language, and "D" for sexually suggestive dialogue. It may take a Ph.D. in critical theory to explicate the difference between foul language and sexually suggestive dialogue, and why it matters. (A federal advisory board has been set up to arbitrate disputes. It met once, received few complaints, and has no plans to meet again.) Of course, inconsistencies abound. ABC reportedly drafted guidelines explaining that "butt," when used as an insult, merits an "L" for foul language but when used in a sexual context should be given an "S." Fox, by contrast, allowed "ass" and "sucks" in an episode of King of the Hill without adding the "L" designation. Soap operas are rated PG-D at ABC, TV-14-L at CBS, and TV-14 at NBC. All clear now? News programs were exempted from the ratings because of First Amendment concerns, but that means the V-chip won't protect kids from hearing about the White House sex scandals or the school killings in Arkansas, which are a lot scarier than anything on Jerry Springer.

The V-chip is a big solution for a small problem. Assume, for the sake of argument, that children need to be protected from violence and sex on TV. Only 37% of U.S. homes have kids under 18. Many parents already supervise their kids' viewing. Others can't be bothered. (One study found that more than half the kids under 12 have a TV set in their room.) So the V-chip will, at best, serve a small subset of parents--those who want to control their kids' viewing and need an electronic device to do so because they aren't there to do the job themselves.

Government intervention is unnecessary. Several companies, led by Canada-based Tri-Vision Electronics, will soon begin selling stand-alone V-chips that can be added to existing TV sets and cable boxes for as little as $80. So for the cost of a couple of months of cable, parents who covet a V-chip can buy one.

Luckily, the V-chip won't cost the rest of us much. Industry sources say it'll add $5 to $10 to the price of low-end TVs--even less to fancier models. Good luck figuring out how to program one of these things.

In the end, the networks must share the blame for this mess. They've put on too much tasteless programming, inviting criticism from parents and legislators. Worse, to placate regulators in Washington, they went along with the V-chip and ratings system--even though they knew all along that it would never work.

--Marc Gunther