The history of the movie and television ratings systems has revealed several ironies. Before the MPAA gave us their notorious movie ratings in 1967, there had never been any such thing as an R-rated film for general theatrical distribution. Since that historic event, 63% of all movies released by Hollywood are rated R. When developing the TV ratings system, television execs vetoed the term R not wanting to imply that any programs were "Restricted." That would send a daunting message to advertisers as well as viewers. Instead they opted for a more favorable sounding M.A. signifying that the material is suitable for "Mature Audiences." If history repeats itself, we can expect a sizable percentage of television programs in the near future will carry the daunting MA rating.

Someday, when the public objects to the onslaught of so-called ‘mature’ TV movies and programs, it will be answered with the same rhetoric it has heard for the last 30 years. "The responsibility for choosing what children should or should not watch belongs to parents not filmmakers." All the more reason we need the protection of a parental blocking device. A V-Chip in the hands of responsible parents has the potential of protecting millions of children from being subjected to any unsavory programming that will inevitably permeate the airwaves. It also can be used to send a message to advertisers that audiences for sexy, violent, profane television program are too small to give serious consideration when planning their advertising strategies.

The Broadcast and Cable Networks have agreed to use the TV Ratings (Y, Y-7, PG, PG-14 and MA). Most, with the exception of NBC and Black Entertainment Television (BET), adopted a content-specific ratings extension in response to criticism from hundreds of pro-family groups including The Dove Foundation. Graphic Violence is designated by (V), Explicit Sex (S), Profane Language (L), and Suggestive Dialogue (D). These ratings are encoded in the signal transmitted along with the program thereby enabling the V-Chip to identify each rating. Viewers can in turn choose which levels of content to block or permit on their television sets.

In last month’s column I talked about the V-Chip and how the FCC has ordained its inclusion in all newly manufactured TV sets bigger than 13 inches by January 2000. While that’s a significant step toward giving parents control of the television programming that comes into their home, some feel that won’t help them protect their curious adolescents and teens today. And, who wants to pay hundreds of dollars to replace perfectly good television sets because they don’t have the blocking features offered with the V-Chip?

This week, the company representing the original inventor of the V-Chip contacted me. They told me about a solution that is available immediately. The Parental Guide™ Company has developed the PG-One_®, a set-top box that contains the same V-Chip blocking technology recommended by Congress and approved by the FCC.

Parental Guide™ Company has given The Dove Foundation the opportunity to make PG-One_® available to its supporters for only $89.95. An advanced version, PG-Plus_® comes with a remote control and LED status screen for $99.95. If you are interested in learning more about how to order this ingenious device, call Dove at 800-968-8437, or visit our web site at http://www.dove.org/vchip