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Mass. congressman proposes NBC, BET get with the program
As expected, the Federal Communications Commission at a hearing on March 12 approved the TV content ratings system that went into effect last October. The agency also established technical mandates for TVs to contain a "V-chip" that would enable parents to block certain kinds of programming in their homes. By July 1999, 50 percent of all new TV sets must have V-chip capability.
Despite the political popularity of the ratings and V-chip, the FCC's action wasn't without controversy. Commissioner Harold FurchtgottRoth, a Republican appointee who has become somewhat of a loner at the agency, took a swipe at the so-called voluntary nature of...