ABSTRACT
A V-chip is a microprocessor in a television receiver that responds to a ratings signal embedded in the programs broadcast to the receiver. The V-chip permits a viewer to program the receiver to screen programming so that it displays only programs with selected ratings. In particular, a programmed V-chip can screen out reception of programs containing violence and sexuality. During the early 1990s, Timothy Collings of Simon Fraser University developed the V-chip from devices that screen outgoing telephone calls. The rating symbol electronically activates a V-chip so that a parent can program the television set to block access to programs of a particular ratings category. The V-chip requirement represents a major change in the censorship of televised violence and sexuality. Far-reaching congressional and Federal Communications Commission regulation of indecent and offensive content of programs and the time of broadcast of programs with violence and sexuality, which had existed since the passage of the Radio Act of 1927, was abandoned.
