TV Parental Guidelines

United States television age based ratings

The TV Parental Guidelines are a television content rating system in the United States that was first proposed on December 19, 1996, by the United States Congress, the American television industry, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The guidelines went into effect by January 1, 1997, on most major broadcast and cable networks in response to public concerns about increasing amounts of mature content in television programs. It was established as a voluntary participation system, with ratings to be determined by the individual participating broadcast and cable networks. The ratings are generally applied to most television series, television films and edited broadcast or basic cable versions of theatrically released films. Premium channels also assign ratings from the TV Parental Guidelines on broadcasts of some films that have been released theatrically or on home video, either if the Motion Picture Association of America did not assign a rating for the film or if the channel airs an unrated version of a film. The ratings were designed to be used with the V chip, which was mandated to be built into all television sets manufactured since 2000 (and the vast majority of cable/satellite set top boxes). They complement more advanced parental control systems that block by channel, program, or content, but the guidelines themselves have no legal force, and are not used on sports or news programs or during commercial advertisements. Many online television services, such as Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Peacock and Fandango at Home also use the guidelines system, along with digital video vendors such as the iTunes Store and Google Play, and digital media players, including the Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV, and Roku platforms.

In the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the United States Congress called upon the entertainment industry to establish, within one year, a voluntary television rating system to provide parents with advance information on material in television programming that might be unsuitable for their children. This rating system would work in conjunction with the V chip, a device embedded in television sets that enables parents to block programming they determine to be inappropriate. On February 29, 1996, all segments of the entertainment industry, led by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), joined and voluntarily pledged to create such a system. They agreed that the guidelines would be applied by broadcast and cable networks in order to handle the large amount of programming that must be reviewed – some 2,000 hours a day. The guidelines would be applied episodically to all programming based on their content, except for news, sports and advertising. The industry also created a Monitoring Board, composed of TV industry experts, to ensure accuracy, uniformity and consistency of the guidelines and to consider any public questions about the guideline applied to a particular program. on August 1, 1997, the television industry, in conjunction with representatives of children's and medical advocacy groups, announced revisions to the rating system. Under this revised system, television programming would continue to fall into one of the six ratings categories (TV Y, TV Y7, TV G, TV PG, TV 14 or TV MA), but content descriptors would be added to the ratings where appropriate, based on the type(s) of objectionable content included in the individual program or episode: D (suggestive dialogue), L (coarse language), S (sexual content), V (violence) and FV (fantasy violence – a descriptor exclusively for use in the TV Y7 category). Further, the proposal stated that the icons and associated content symbols would appear for 15 seconds at the beginning of all rated programming, and that the size of the icons would be increased. The revised guidelines were supported by leading family and child advocacy groups, as well as television broadcasters, cable systems and networks, and television production companies. Finally, the revised proposal called for five representatives of the advocacy community to be added to the TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board. On March 12, 1998, the Federal Communications Commission found that the Industry Video Programming Rating System was acceptable, and adopted technical requirements for the V chip. In June 2021, creators, writers, and directors of TV animation in a report for the website Insider said that one of the forms of pressure to have less overt depiction of LGBTQ+ characters or culture was the TV Parental Guidelines system, resulting in domestic and international content being cut out of episodes. One of the criticisms was that the rarely updated guidelines offer no guidance on LGBTQ+ representation and the ratings are only changed "in the face of complaints".

The direct description of each rating from the TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board is listed above the extended ratings description in italics.

This program is designed to be appropriate for all children. Designed to be appropriate for children of all ages. The thematic elements portrayed in programs with this rating are specifically designed for a very young audience, including children from ages 2 to 6.

This program is designed for children age 7 and above.

This program contains material that parents may find unsuitable for younger children. This rating is rarely used by broadcast networks or local television stations due to FCC restrictions on program content, although it is commonly applied to television programs featured on certain cable channels (basic and premium networks) and streaming networks for both mainstream and softcore programs. Programs with this rating may include crude indecent language, explicit sexual activity and graphic violence. The "suggestive dialogue" descriptor is used for TV PG and TV 14 rated programs only, but rarely TV MA. The violence descriptor was used for TV Y7 programs from August 1997 until the creation of the 'FV' descriptor later that year. Unofficially, broadcast television networks and syndicators have sparingly applied "E/I" (separately used as a specific identifier for children's programs) as an informal content descriptor for select TV Y, TV Y7, and TV G programs that are designed to meet the educational and informative needs of children. A minimum of three hours of E/I compliant programming must be broadcast per week by each television network, with exemptions and looser regulations applying to digital subchannels; all E/I programs must air between 6:00 a. m. and 10:00 p. m.

While the descriptors were specifically developed for the Parental Guidelines system, Apple TV (except for some subscription add ons sold through its Apple TV Channels marketplace) applies the system's descriptors to theatrically released films rated under the Motion Picture Association's proprietary ratings system, in lieu of other content advisory descriptions (such as the more specific advisory system used by premium cable services, including those sold through the Apple TV platform); Hulu typically restricts on screen ratings and content descriptors to its original programming and licensed films. On screen ratings for original and licensed television series are featured on premium channel add ons sold through Hulu to its VOD only and VOD/live TV subscribers, though not on series licensed from its network and distribution partners. Rather than use the default content descriptors, other streaming services like Disney+, Max, Amazon Prime Video and Netflix (the latter basing ratings and content information for original and some licensed series on the program's overall maturity level, rather than on an episode to episode basis) may provide more concise detail of the thematic material in a particular title alongside the title’s rating.

For the first 15 seconds of every rated program lasting a half hour or less, a large rating icon appears in the upper left hand corner of the screen; previously this had a common design using a universal icon, but now often goes with a network's branding and design language or, for some streaming services like Netflix, Max and Disney+, merely denotes the rating and details of mature material in a program in a straight line of text. The icon was much smaller until June 2005 and only appeared on screen for 7.5 seconds. For every rated program running an hour or longer, a rating appears in the upper left hand corner of the television screen at the beginning of each half hour. Starting in June 2005, many networks now display the ratings after every commercial break, in addition to the beginning of the program. Ratings icons formerly appeared in the 4:3 safe area, even with a 16:9 HD designed presentation, but have since gravitated to the corner of the 16:9 picture.

Some programs may voluntarily display a disclaimer regarding the show's objectionable content with the TV rating prior to the program starting, along with audibly repeating the same, with the reason for the rating (e. g. suggestive dialogue, drug and alcohol abuse, language, sexual situations, violence, nudity) and strongly cautioning parents to decide whether the program is suitable for their children. Several channels (including USA Network and AMC) insert special caution boards for horror programs at the end of commercial breaks, almost always occurring before a series uses the word "fuck" in uncensored dialogue. Viewer discretion advisories are mostly used for programs rated TV MA or series where most episodes are TV 14 rated with lighter content. They are also commonly used for television broadcasts of theatrical films; this, however, depends highly on the content and rating (alternatively, said content might also be edited out).