WASHINGTON, D.C. – The cable's industry's $250 million campaign to educate consumers about parental controls kicks into high gear this week with the distribution to participating cable networks and cable systems of new Public Service Announcements (PSAs).

The latest PSAs have been created by MTV Networks and the Hallmark Channel and are available in generic, customizable and Spanish-language versions. The Hallmark PSA features distinguished author, actor and historian, Dr. Maya Angelou.

The PSAs will be distributed by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) via satellite in two feeds scheduled for Wednesday, May 18, and Thursday, May 19. The spots currently are available for viewing at the industry's parental controls website, www.ControlYourTV.org.

The public service campaign is a major element of the comprehensive “Take Control. It's Easy.” initiative announced last month to help families manage their home TV viewing and protect children from programming their parents may find inappropriate for them.

Cable operators serving more than 90 percent of cable households, and more than 100 cable networks representing a variety of genres, have committed to airing the PSAs worth $250 million in airtime over the next 12 months.

The PSAs feature the tag line, “Take Control. It's Easy.” to emphasize that parental control features provided by cable operators are accessible and easy to use. The majority of cable customers already have parental control technology available to them because it is a feature built in to the “set-top” box that is provided to all digital and many basic cable subscribers, and 100 million TVs have built-in V-chips that can block programming based on TV ratings.

“The goal of the public service campaign is to alert parents that easy-to-use tools already exist for them to manage their family's TV viewing,” said Kyle McSlarrow , NCTA President & CEO. “By airing millions of PSAs over the next year, combined with other elements of the ‘Take Control' initiative, our goal is to reach out to nearly every cable customer with information about parental controls and how to manage their home viewing environment.”

For more information about how to use parental controls, including simple guidelines for programming the remote control, the spots direct viewers to visit www.ControlYourTV.org . The website also provides information about the TV ratings system and V-chip, plus tips for parents to use in developing a TV viewing schedule suitable for the entire family.

In addition to the $250 million public service campaign, other elements of the “Take Control. It's Easy.” initiative include:

• Beginning June 1, introduction of a larger TV ratings icon that will be inserted on the TV screen at the beginning of every rated program, plus insertion of a ratings icon on the screen after every commercial break; and

• Comprehensive customer outreach efforts, including regular customer notification of parental control features; 100 “Control Your TV” events hosted in communities by local cable systems; re-launch of the ControlYourTV.org website; and creation of new materials providing instructions for using cable's parental controls.

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