
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, August 5, 1993                   TAG: 9308050031
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

HOUSE BILL CRACKS DOWN ON VIOLENT PROGRAMMING

Television broadcasters could lose their licenses and be fined up to $25,000 for violating anti-violence standards introduced Wednesday in the House.

The bill, by Rep. John Bryant, D-Texas, is the most extreme of the measures that have been proposed in recent months to pressure the TV industry to end dramatized gunplay.

Another bill will be introduced Thursday by Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., requiring that TV sets be manufactured with a computer chip enabling parents to block violent programming, Markey's office said.

Bryant's bill requires the Federal Communications Commission to establish standards to reduce violent programming and consider broadcasters' efforts toward that end when renewing licenses.

Violations could be penalized by fines up to $25,000 and recision of broadcast or other licenses for repeated offenses. The measure targets radio, cable and satellite transmissions as well as broadcast television.

- Associated Press

by CNB