NCTA — The Internet & Television Association

Parental Controls

Empowering Parents

With the explosion of media options, it can be daunting for families to manage what children watch and see. The cable industry has spent decades educating consumers about parental control tools and media literacy resources to help provide informed advice for families and caregivers. With these tools, families can determine what content is appropriate for their household.

a young girl reading a picture book

Empowering Parents through FAM

The cable industry is committed to helping parents and caregivers manage the relationship that their families have with media. FAM – Family and Media, helps families make smart internet and TV choices.

Parental Control Tips

In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) is a video series about the latest and greatest websites, apps and products to help you manage your kids online and media activities.

TV Parental Controls

TV Ratings. Use the TV Ratings to locate programs you want your child to see. The TV Ratings, or the TV Parental Guidelines, can help you to determine if a program is suitable for your child by outlining the show’s target audience and possible content.

Family-Friendly Programming. Cable provides a wide choice of educational, informative, and live programming, offering something for everyone in your family.

Parental Controls in Set-Top Boxes. It has never been easier to manage which programs and channels are seen on your family’s television.

Parental Controls and Streaming. You can also set up parental controls through your cable provider’s or individual networks’ streaming apps.

The V-Chip can block by ratings which are both age- and content-based.

family watching tv together and eating popcorn
80
%
Parents have a favorable opinion of the TV ratings
95
%
Parents are satisfied with the accuracy of ratings for shows on broadcast and cable TV
89
%
Parents find the TV ratings system helpful
Source: TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board

Online Parental Controls

Multiple User Profiles

Members of your family can have their own dedicated profile allowing individuals to customize profiles with controls to suit the needs of family members, including children.

Filtering Options

You can filter websites and content so your children can see only what you want them to. Filtering options often include the use of "white lists" where your children only have access to material and sites you pre-approve, "black lists" where you can block specific objectionable sites, and advanced filtering options where a parent can manage web content based on the use of keywords or other parameters.

Time Limits

You can set limits on screen time appropriate for your children.

Supervised Chat

Allows parents to monitor the online conversations, such as instant messaging, of children.

Reporting Capabilities

You can easily generate several types of reports about web activity for each user profile.