While programming per se does not fall within the scope of CARU's self-regulatory mission, the definition and identification of children's programming has significant impact on CARU's activities in regulating child-directed advertising. This latter was a topic of discussion at CARU's 1993 Advisory Committee meeting as part of the ongoing evaluation of the Self-Regulatory Guidelines for Children's Advertising.

Historically, attempts at defining children's programming have been confusing and at some times contradictory. As long ago as 1974, the NAB Code Authority defined Children's Programming as "those shows scheduled at times during which children are generally watching television alone or with other children. The program may be one specifically designed for children or "may be a re-run of a family show which, because of the time at which it is scheduled and the audience it attracts, may be said to be one which is directed primarily at children."

As was mentioned in a recent Commentary on pending Federal Trade Commission regulation of 900-number advertising, that body identifies "children's programming as defined by the Federal Communications Commission, animated programming and afterschool specials." The FCC has defined children's programming as "programs originally produced and broadcast for an audience of children 12 years old and under" and specifically excluded "programs which were originally produced for a general audience that might nonetheless be significantly viewed by children."

Clearly the NAB and FCC definitions, both based on form and content, are contradictory. The issue is confused further by broadcasters' traditional reliance on day-part to determine children's programming, which has broken down with the appearance of a 24-hour cartoon cable network, and other cable stations targeted specifically to kids. Even on broadcast television, limiting the definition to traditional "kids' time" is no longer appropriate; recent Nielsen ratings confirm that kids 2 to 11 make up a significant portion of the audience for both fringe- and prime-time programs such as "Full House", "Step By Step" and "Married With Children", none of which is targeted primarily to children.

Given the difficulty of reaching a consensus definition of children's programming, the question confronting CARU's Advisors was where is it reasonable for CARU to monitor children's advertising. There was general agreement CARU should scrutinize children's advertising wherever it appears. The Self-Regulatory Guidelines for Children's Advertising delineate the scope of the Guidelines as applying "to all advertising addressed to children under twelve years of age ..." without reference to program content, form or day-part.

It was decided at the Advisory Meeting that CARU should begin by monitoring fringe time casually to determine the pattern of advertising airing during that time. So far what we have seen is that most of the advertising during fringe time is not child-directed, and the small number of commercials that are targeted to kids complies with the Guidelines. However, if a commercial is child-directed, for a children's product, and does not comply with the Guidelines, CARU considers that it is within our purview, and advertisers can provide demographics to verify that children do not constitute a significant part of the audience.