Advertisers and agencies, as well as kids TV activists, will get another month to weigh in on the FCC's wide-ranging notice of inquiry on kids TV content-control strategies in a digital world.
The FCC last week moved the deadline for comment from the end of this week to Feb. 24 for comment and March 26 for reply comments.
Associations representing billions in ad spending have asked the FCC to give them more time to weigh in on its proposed inquiry into virtually every facet of children's media, according to a filing with the commission submitted before the start of the new year. Also asking for more time were the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative and the Children's Advertising Review Unit of the Council of Better Business Bureau.
The FCC had set Jan. 25 as the deadline for comments on the inquiry, which was launched in October as a follow-up to a congressional report on content-control technologies.
In their filing, the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the American Advertising Federation, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and others said they planned to "participate fully" in the process, just not as soon as the FCC wanted.
Citing both the holidays and the "breadth and depth" of the inquiry, they asked for a 30-day extension until Feb. 24 to weigh in. "We are actively working on developing a response, but as this inquiry touches on numerous constitutional, academic and public policy issues, it would be a benefit to both the commission and to the public to compile as complete a record as possible," they argued.
Dan Jaffe, executive VP of government relations for the ANA, told B&C that the notice of inquiry is the most extensive he has ever seen out of the FCC. It covers everything from obesity and indecency to ratings and program blocking, including suggestions of a rating/blocking system for advertising.
