Word: blocks
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...kids' reach. The current V-chip technology, developed by a Canadian engineer named Tim Collings, is essentially a computer chip that, when installed in TV sets (added cost: as little as $1), can receive encoded information about each show. Parents can then program the TV set to block out shows that have been coded to indicate, say, high levels of violence. If, after the kids have gone to bed, parents want to watch Tori Spelling on a shooting spree, they can reverse the blocking by pushing one or more buttons...
...panel for creating one. One possible system is currently being tested in Canada. Programs are given a rating of from 0 to 5 in each of three categories: violence, sex and profanity. By setting their V-chip dial to numbers of their choice, parents can block out all shows with higher than that level of offensive material...
Some V-chip critics see the centralized rating concept as too rigid. They support instead one of several devices currently in development that enable parents to make their own choices of which shows to block out. fcc chairman Reed Hundt, a V-chip booster, contends that it will be only "the first of a slew of products. I predict remote-control devices with selection programs. There will be a variety of ways to receive...
Efforts to curtail indecency have been far more efficient in Germany. Starting in 1993 the country's leading TV manufacturer voluntarily included V chips in new sets. The chip can automatically block out movies that the German film-industry board has deemed unacceptable for young audiences. The chip also filters out all TV shows--including soft-core porn--that individual stations decide are potentially inappropriate. The FSF, a TV industry watchdog group, frequently guides networks in scheduling. In December 1994 it convinced the RTL network to run the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers on a weekly rather than daily basis, following...
...mounting as clamorously as they have in the U.S., broadcasters air expurgated versions of the Power Rangers. Canada is also experimenting with V-chip technology in several cities. This week a third round of tests will begin in about 400 homes where encoded programming will allow parents to selectively block out material rated on a scale of 0 to 5 for offensiveness. So far the V chip has sparked few objections in Canada. By mid-March the government is expected to decide whether or not to enact...