PTC Praises NBC for Family Hour

The Parents Television Council Friday praised NBC for committing to an 8 p.m.-9 p.m. family hour as part of its new programming lineup.

“We thank NBC for committing to air family-friendly programming during the family hour," said Tim Winter, PTC president and himself a former NBC executive. "We are heartened that NBC appears to be listening to the calls of so many parents and families, and we hope that other broadcast networks follow NBC’s lead.”

At its schedule presentation to advertisers last week, NBC said it was looking for more "advertiser-friendly" programming, including saying that it would make the 8 p.m.-9 p.m. time period a family hour.

Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin, for one, has proposed that the networks voluntarily program a family hour from 8 p.m.-9 p.m. as one of the ways broadcasters can be more responsive to viewers' concerns about content.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.