The TV Parental Guidelines system was first proposed on December 19, 1996 by the United States Congress, the television industry and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and went into effect by January 1, 1997 on most major U.S. broadcast and cable networks in response to public concerns of increasingly explicit sexual content, graphic violence and strong profanity in television programs. It was established as a voluntary-participation system, with ratings to be determined by the individually-participating broadcast and cable networks.
It was specifically designed to be used with the V-chip, which was mandated to be built into all television sets manufactured since 2000, but the guidelines themselves have no legal force, and does not apply to news or sports programming, thus precluding networks like CNN, Fox News Channel, ESPN and Fox Sports Net from applying the ratings system, along with the majority of infomercials (which are classified the same as regular commercial break advertising, which also is not rated); however recently, this rule has stopped applying to some entertainment news and newsmagazine programs such as Extra and Access Hollywood which all now carry TV-PG ratings mainly due to fair use clip content from outside sources including reality television programming which is often above the TV-G threshold.
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(All ages 0 and older)[1]
Whether animated or live-action, the themes and elements in this program are specifically designed for a very young audience, including children from ages 0–6. These programs are not expected to frighten younger children.
(Directed to children 7 and older)
Shows with this rating may or may not be appropriate for some children under the age of seven. They may contain crude or suggestive humor, mild fantasy violence, or content considered too frightening to be shown to children under seven years of age. Shows are rated TV-Y7.
(Directed to children 7 and older with fantasy violence in shows)
When a show has noticeably more fantasy violence than a program rated TV-Y7, it is assigned the TV-Y7-FV rating. Action-adventure shows may carry this rating. Most Japanese anime shows dubbed and aimed at children in the United States are given this rating.
(General audience)
Although shows with this rating are not necessarily targeted to children, they can be enjoyed by a variety of age groups. Networks that air informational, religious, how-to, or otherwise generally inoffensive content (such as the Food Network and HGTV) usually apply a blanket TV-G rating to all of their shows, unless otherwise noted. Programming directed at pre-teens and teens on Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, and TeenNick are rated TV-G for mild language and innuendo. During the 20th century, most cartoons used this rating as a sign that the show contained comic violence or animated smoking that was suitable for family viewing.
(Parental guidance suggested)
This rating signifies that the program may be unsuitable for children under the age of 9 or 10 without the guidance of a parent. Many parents may want to watch it with their younger children. Various game shows and most reality television shows are rated TV-PG for their suggestive dialogue, suggestive humor, and/or coarse language. Some anime programs are given this rating, as are many prime-time series. Prime-time Cartoon Network series and all World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) programs (including those aired on pay-per-view) after 2008 were changed to TV-PG. Sometimes on occasion, an R-rated film in heavily edited form, depending on it's overall content, may warrent a TV-PG rating.
(Parents strongly cautioned/May be unsuitable for children under 14 years of age)
Parents are strongly urged to exercise greater care in monitoring programs with this rating and are cautioned against letting children under 14 years of age watch unattended. This rating may be accompanied by any of the following sub-ratings:
Many programs that air after 9 p.m. are rated TV-14. Mainly PG-13, R, and some PG-rated feature films - depending on their general content and themes - are rated TV-14 when edited for broadcast. Anime series may alternatively switch between a TV-PG and TV-14 rating, while most anime are TV-14. Most hour-long dramas are rated TV-14, as are prime-time sitcoms aimed at adult audiences (the shows airing on Fox have a viewer discretion advisory as well). Some shows on Animal Planet containing gruesome animal violence hold a TV-14 rating, as do some music video shows, mainly during the late night hours. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) programs bear a TV-14 due to violence and sexual dialogue, in contrast to TNA's competitor, WWE, whose shows bear a TV-PG rating.
Live programming, such as televised awards ceremonies, concerts, and some specials, is sometimes issued a general TV-14 rating because of the possibility that profanity or suggestive dialogue may be used.
(Mature audience — unsuitable for audiences under 17)
Programs bearing a TV-MA rating may be unsuitable for those below the age of 17. This rating was originally named TV-M in early 1997, but was changed because of a trademark dispute and to remove confusion with the ESRB's "M for Mature" rating for video games.[2] Shows rated TV-MA may contain extreme graphic violence, strong profanity, overtly sexual dialogue, nudity, and/or strong sexual content. The vast majority of television programs that carry this rating air on cable and satellite television; network television rarely airs any programming that would warrant such a rating due to FCC indecency and obscenity guidelines that prevent most of this type of programming from airing on broadcast television. The film Schindler's List was the first film broadcast on network television to display this rating, and the pilot episode of the CBS police drama Brooklyn South was the first series on network TV to display the rating. Original programming airing in the late evening on some cable networks will generally carry this rating.
The implications of these ratings, particularly the TV-MA rating, vary greatly depending on the situation. For example, South Park, which airs on Comedy Central, generally contains explicit language, so it carries a TV-MA rating; syndicated versions of South Park, however, are heavily censored and cut, and employ a TV-14 rating instead. Other TV-MA programs on Comedy Central have no restrictions on language. Language may still be censored by a network or air completely unfiltered, depending on such factors as creative network choices or the need to appeal to advertisers leery of placing spots on a TV-MA program. Adult Swim shows are rated TV-MA for racism and strong sexual humor. Other shows that are frequently rated TV-MA include original series on the FX cable network, as well as original programming on premium television services such as Showtime and HBO. A blanket "TV-MA" rating is also usually given to softcore pornographic films or TV series airing on channels such as Cinemax and most of the Showtime networks, due to full-frontal nudity and the depiction of simulated sexual intercourse.
Some PG and PG-13 films when aired uncut on movie channels such as Turner Classic Movies and among others, may receve a TV-MA rating depending on their content and general theme of the programing. For example: the PG-rated film Spaceballs in uncut form warrants a TV-MA-L, due to the film's one use of "fuck" (though not in a sexual meaning) along with some material deemed too graphic for a lower TV rating in its unaltered state.
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 (the TV Parental Guidelines) 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 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 together 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 huge amount of programming that must be reviewed—some 2,000 hours a day. The guidelines would be applied episodically to all programming with the exception of news, sports and advertising.
On December 19, 1996, the industry announced the creation of the TV Parental Guidelines, a voluntary system of guidelines providing parents with information to help them make more informed choices about the television programs their children watch. The guidelines were modeled after the MPAA movie ratings. The television industry agreed to insert a ratings icon on-screen at the beginning of all rated programs, and to encode the guidelines for use with the V-Chip.[3]
The ratings system was based on age, with each category providing guidance about the intended audience for TV shows carrying that rating. Each ratings category also contained a description of the kind of content that might appear in programs with a particular rating. The ratings categories were separated into two groups: ratings for programming designed for children and ratings for programming designed for general audiences. The two children’s ratings were created based on input from children’s advocates who raised concerns about the special needs of young children. The children’s ratings were: TV-Y for programming designed for all children, and TV-Y7 for programming directed at children 7 or older. The “general audience” categories were as follows: TV-G (general audience – appropriate for all ages), TV-PG (parental guidance suggested – may be unsuitable for younger children), TV-14 (parents strongly cautioned – may be unsuitable for children under 14 years of age), and TV-M (for mature audiences only, may be unsuitable for children under 17).
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.
In response to calls to provide additional content information in the ratings system,[4] on August 1, 1997, the television industry, in conjunction with representatives of children’s and medical advocacy groups, announced a revised 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, TV-MA), but content descriptors of D (suggestive dialogue), L (language), S (sexual content), V (violence) and FV (fantasy violence – exclusively for the TV-Y7 category) would be added to the ratings where appropriate.
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.
The ratings are sometimes accompanied by sub-ratings, depending on the amount of objectionable content in the program.
| Rating | Violence (V) | Language (L) | Sexual content (S) | Suggestive dialogue (D) | Fantasy violence (FV) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TV-Y | (unused) | (unused) | (unused) | (unused) | (unused) |
| TV-Y7 | (once used) | (unused) | (unused) | (unused) | (exclusive use) |
| TV-G | (unused) | (unused) | (unused) | (unused) | (unused) |
| TV-PG | (used) | (used) | (used) | (used) | (unused) |
| TV-14 | (used) | (used) | (used) | (used) | (unused) |
| TV-MA | (used) | (used) | (used) | (unofficial, used by some networks) | (unused) |
For the first 15 seconds of every rated program, a large rating icon appears in the upper-left hand corner of the screen, it was much smaller until June 2005, although CBS and The CW still use the small variant. For every rated program running an hour or longer, it appears at the beginning of each hour.
Starting in June 2005, many networks now display the ratings after every commercial break. ABC was one of the first television networks to display the program's rating after every commercial break in addition to at the beginning of the program.
Originally, the Franklin Gothic font was used for the TV rating icons, but upon the October 1997 revision of the system to redub the "TV-M" rating as "TV-MA" and the addition of the content descriptors, Helvetica became used as the default typeface for the icons, typically with white lettering on a black background. Unless a network has a separate high definition simulcast, generally all ratings icons appear in the 4:3 title safe area of all television sets.