Media Bureau Issues Guidance on 3Q Children’s TV Report

The Media Bureau released a public notice on September 3, 2019 announcing the effectiveness of certain portions of the new children’s television rules and providing guidance on how commercial stations should complete the 3^rd quarter 2019 Children’s Television Report.

As detailed in the notice, the 3rd Quarter 2019 children’s television report, which is due no later than October 10, 2019, will cover the period from July 1, 2019 – September 15, 2019. Compliance for this period will be determined on a pro-rata basis, meaning that stations should calculate their weekly average over that period based on 11 weeks (not 12) to obtain the total hours of core programming aired. The only other exception to compliance for this period is that stations will not have to provide information concerning the children’s programming they plan to air in the 4th quarter (since that requirement will end on 9/16). That part of the form can be left blank. If your station was multicasting during the period above, compliance will be determined using the 3-hour weekly average for each 24/7 channel, and should be reported that way.

Under the new rules, commercial stations will file one annual report instead of quarterly reports. The first “annual” children’s TV report will cover the period from September 16, 2019 – December 31, 2019, and be due no later than January 30, 2020. Except for some parts of the new rules that will become effective on OMB approval, the new rules will be in effect for this report, and stations should follow those revised rules during this period. The notice provides specific guidance on how stations will be deemed to satisfy the processing guidelines during this period.

The children’s television report will still be accessed and filed in LMS.