Family Viewing Hour

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The Family Viewing Hour was a policy established by the

family-friendly" programming during the first hour of the prime-time lineup (8 to 9 p.m. Eastern Time). The policy was abandoned in 1977 following a 1976 ruling by a federal court that found it violative of the First Amendment
. However, the concept has continued on a voluntary basis in various manifestations.

Background

In

California Supreme Court
.

In January 1975, FCC chairman

Communications and Commerce Subcommittees, stating that all three networks had agreed to adopt a "family viewing hour" in response to the criticism. The National Association of Broadcasters advanced the gesture one step further, decreeing that local stations also air family-friendly programming in the 7 p.m. time slot during which the networks were forbidden from programming under the Prime Time Access Rule.[2]

ratings if CBS were the only network to try the new policy (the network had been #1 in U.S. households since the mid-1950s). By the end of 1974, each network executive agreed to endorse the Family Viewing Hour, and to implement it by the fall 1975 season.[1]

Many television series were affected by the Family Viewing Hour mandate. All in the Family, which had been the runaway top-rated show in the U.S. since 1971, was moved to 9 p.m. on Mondays after five seasons leading the Saturday night lineup. Producer Norman Lear, citing an infringement on creative freedom and his First Amendment rights, mounted a lawsuit. With the support of varying guilds, including that of the WGA, he won the case.[1] The show's cast responded by recording a satirical, unaired rendition of the show's theme song retitled "These Are the Days".

On November 4, 1976,

duress. The ruling allowed stations the freedom to program their pre-prime-time slots.[1][4]

Modern usage

After the Family Viewing Hour was declared unconstitutional, the networks voluntarily continued to offer family-friendly programs such as

Her Cups Runneth Over" with her three young children. Consequently, two companies completely withdrew sponsorship from the show, while others, including the Coca-Cola Company, reduced sponsorship.[6] Beginning with the 2000–2001 season, ABC stopped showing commercials for R-rated films during the first hour of primetime.[7] In 2003, FCC commissioner Kevin Martin expressed a desire to resurrect the Family Hour.[8]

In 2001, the

Parents Television Council (PTC) issued a report titled The Sour Family Hour and campaigned for the FCC to reinstate the Family Hour on a voluntary basis.[9] The PTC has issued numerous subsequent reports claiming that the first prime-time hour of 8:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. in Central and Mountain Time Zones) has grown increasingly unsuitable for family viewing.[5][9][10]

Bernard Goldberg and Zell Miller have used the term "family hour" in their books to describe the early prime-time hours.[11]

The advent of streaming television has rendered the concept of a strictly defined "family hour" difficult to enforce, given that the technology provides consumers with the ability to view adult-themed programming (including sexual content, violence and language to a degree that far exceeds that of broadcast television) at any time of the day.

References

  1. ^ a b c d Brown, James A. "Family Viewing Time". Museum of Broadcast Communications. Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved August 4, 2014.
  2. ^ "Television's Family Viewing Hour". Congressional Record. Vol. 121, no. 168. November 12, 1975. Archived from the original on August 26, 2011. Retrieved December 29, 2005.
  3. ISBN 0742523055
    .
  4. ^ "Judge says networks, NAB, FCC all acted illegally on family viewing" (PDF), Broadcasting, vol. 91, no. 19, pp. 20–23, November 8, 1976, retrieved December 25, 2019 – via AmericanRadioHistory.com
  5. ^
    Parents Television Council. Archived from the original
    on September 30, 2007. Retrieved September 5, 2007.
  6. ISBN 1-59102-427-7
    .
  7. ^ Carter, Bill (September 13, 2000). "Disney Bans R-Rated Movie Ads Before 9 P.M. on ABC Network". The New York Times. Retrieved March 26, 2009.
  8. ^ Rutenberg, Jim (January 25, 2003). "Few Viewers Object as Unbleeped Bleep Words Spread on Network TV". The New York Times. Retrieved March 26, 2009.
  9. ^ a b "Group calls for voluntary return to TV 'family hour'". CNN. August 1, 2001. Archived from the original on September 30, 2004.
  10. ^ Gildemeister, Christopher; et al. (September 2, 2007). "The Alarming Family Hour: No Place For Your Children" (PDF). Parents Television Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 27, 2007. Retrieved September 5, 2007.
  11. ISBN 0-9745376-3-2
    . Retrieved December 12, 2007.
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