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RBR Observation: Solving a problem that doesn't exist

It's hardly surprising that the FCC is moving next month to mandate much more children's programming under DTV multicasting. After all, every politician inside the beltway wants to be seen as doing something for the kids. But is this move needed? Where is the evidence that the marketplace isn't already expanding children's program offerings? Even people with no children of their own are aware of such cable hits as "Sponge Bob Square Pants," "Dexter's Laboratory" and the "Power Puff Girls." Disney, Viacom and News Corp./Fox are already active players in the kiddie TV field, and you can bet that NBC Universal is looking for a way to get into the game - - not to mention the big plans that PBS has for expanding its kids offerings via DTV. USDTV already includes the Disney Channel and Disney Toon in its offerings and you can bet that the Broadcasters Initiative being spearheaded by Emmis will include some of the popular children's channels when it launches. No one in their right mind would think of offering a multi-channel TV service without featuring programming aimed at children as a major part of the mix. Getting the government involved with a programming mandate will only create unnecessary and costly paperwork. Worst of all, it may even make it more difficult for kids and parents to find the programming they want. By setting strict minimums (either by hours or percentages) for each and every licensee, the FCC may make it more difficult for DTV programming consortiums to group channels logically by genre. In other words, in order to comply with such rules, childrens' programming might end up on DTV channels 14-B, 24-D, 36-C and 45-F in a market, rather than more conveniently being offered as channels 24-B, C, D and E. Children's television is a fast growing market and it's going to continue to grow without need of any mandates from Washington. It would be best left to the market forces which are already propelling it forward, but no - - the Commissioners want to position themselves to claim credit for the growth, even though they will have had nothing to do with it.