The FCC Media Bureau on Wednesday said it is seeking comment on whether or not the agency should update television ratings to warn parents about programs that discuss “gender identity” issues and other controversial topics.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) noted that the television and video programming industries established their own private organization, the TV Oversight Management Board (TVOMB), which developed the TV Parental Guidelines that are used by millions of households every day.
However, the agency said that parents have increasingly raised “significant concerns” with how the ratings system operates, with a lot of content that is meant for adults now being rated as appropriate for children. The FCC Media Bureau explained:
Recently, parents have raised concerns that controversial gender identity issues are being included or promoted in children’s programs without providing any disclosure or transparency to parents. Specifically, the industry guidelines that parents rely on are rating shows with transgender and gender non-binary programming as appropriate for children and young children, and doing so without providing this information to parents, thereby undermining the ability of parents to make informed choices for their families. Consistent with Congress’s vision for the ratings system, we seek comment on whether the industry’s approach is continuing to provide the information that is relevant to parents today.
“Accordingly, we seek comment here on any changes that can or should be made to the current ratings system to ensure that it is responsive to the issues that parents confront today. This includes any changes that may make sense for the TVOMB to ensure that it is representative of a range of family values. We also ask how ratings can be applied consistently across broadcast, MVPDs, and streaming platforms,” the FCC wrote, announcing its call for comments “on how ratings could be better applied to the modern broadcast, cable, and streaming platforms.”
The agency also asked if the TVOMB board has enough stakeholders outside of the entertainment industry, including those with family-oriented perspectives and if faith-based organizations should be represented on the TVOMB board.
The FCC Media Bureau wrote, “Are parents aware that children watching programs rated TV-Y, TV-Y7, and TV-G may contain the discussion or promotion of gender identity themes? Should such programming be rated differently or contain relevant descriptions so that parents can make informed decisions?”
Many advocates have praised the FCC for raising questions about the way television ratings currently operate.
Daniel Suhr, the president of the Center for American Rights, said in a statement to Breitbart News:
The national TV networks and big tech companies are conspiring to indoctrinate our kids in woke ideology through media, and they’re doing it behind the backs of parents. Thankfully, President Trump’s FCC is stepping in to make sure parents are empowered with the information they need to ensure their family’s media choices fit with their values. Industry self-regulation is usually the preferable approach for conservatives, but government needs to engage when industry values aren’t in alignment with the public interest. In the last year we have seen the woke rush to imprint destructive transgender ideology on our kids absolutely backfire, and now we need to make sure children’s entertainment ratings accurately reflect parent expectations on this topic.
The Center for American Rights has engaged on this issue because it believes in empowering parents and monitoring bias in media.
Terry Schilling, the president of the American Principles Project (APP), wrote on X, “Appreciate @BrendanCarrFCC for spotlighting this important issue.”
He then shared a clip of Dead End Paranormal Park, a show on Netflix, that appears to push transgenderism:
Concerned Women for America (CWA) in 2025 wrote a report about the increase in LGBTQ+ messaging in Netflix’s children’s programming.
“That same year, upwards of 60% of shows rated appropriate for children (TV-G, TV-Y, TV-Y7) that debuted on Netflix (whether licensed or original) contained LGBTQ+ characters, themes, or messaging. In fact, there were fewer children’s shows introduced in 2023 that did not have LGBTQ content (9) than shows that did (14),” the CWA report noted.
