WASHINGTON, SEPT. 26, 2006 - "This hearing is about giving control to parents over movies that contain violent, sexual, and profane content," said Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), Chairman of the Commerce, Trade & Consumer Protection Subcommittee.
Added Stearns, "Our society is saturated with media -- television, the Internet, the radio, and movies - empowering parents with control over what their children see, hear, and read is a growing challenge. I want to better understand why and how editing objectionable content in a legally-purchased copy of a movie and selling it as a clearly-labeled edited copy at a higher price hurts Hollywood's bottom line and artistic expression."
The Family Entertainment Copyright Act of 2005 permits the marketing of programs that automatically skip over objectionable content based on the preference selected by the user. John Feehery, testifying for the Motion Picture Association of America, noted the difference between what the Act authorized and what is occurring. He stated, "That legislation was also carefully crafted to draw a clear line between an automated program that skips or mutes certain material at the direction of the user when a DVD is played, and the commercial distribution of unauthorized copies of movies that have been physically edited without the permission of the creators."
Allan Erb, President of CleanFlicks Media, Inc., defended the Practice: "Hollywood produces extraordinary movies with exceptional subject matter. Sadly, many of those productions are also laced with needless, often gratuitous, content which is not important to the storyline...its removal does no harm to the movie. This seems to be acceptably true, even for the Studios and Directors, since movies are regularly edited for content for television, airlines, cruise ships, and some foreign countries."
"This hearing brought up important questions regarding copyrights, intellectual property rights, artistic expression, and empowering parents over the media provided to children," concluded Stearns. "I believe that technology can provide a solution that will satisfy the financial and artistic rights of content producers, as well as provide parents with control over the content their families view. I appreciate hearing the various viewpoints surrounding this issue."
For Further Information Please Contact Paul Flusche at 202-225-5744 or Email.
