PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Sep 14, 1995
Public Broadcasting Financial Independence and Family Viewing Act of 1995 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to require that public telecommunications programs under the purview of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting be suitable for family viewing throughout the broadcast day. (Sec. 3) Prohibits Federal funds from being used to broadcast any program which is indecent or any dramatic program which includes nudity. (Sec. 4) Declares that it is in the public interest that public broadcasting provide educational, cultural, informational, and entertaining programming which is suitable for family viewing. (Sec. 5) Requires the Federal Communications Commission to adopt regulations which would allow public broadcast license holders, under specified conditions, to: (1) make use of their broadcast spectrum for the transmission of ancillary and supplementary services if the licensees provide at least one free schedule of public broadcast programming; and (2) utilize their broadcast schedule between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. to provide on a leased basis non-public broadcast programming for a fee or to provide commercially sponsored programming. (Sec. 7) Revises advertising restrictions to permit a public broadcast station to advertise an offering that is an educational or cultural event sponsored in part by a qualified public broadcasting station or producer or distributor of programming for public broadcast stations. (Sec. 8) Allows Public Broadcasting programming to be distributed to viewers by means of satellite, common carrier, or other forms of telecommunications technology for a fee provided that the proceeds from such distribution go to the exclusive benefit of public broadcasting. (Sec. 9) Authorizes the Commission to approve an exchange of frequencies between a public broadcaster and a commercial broadcaster when the proceeds from such exchange are dedicated to the benefit of the national public broadcasting system. (Sec. 10) Requires the Board of Directors of the Corporation and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) to ensure that agreements for programming include a provision to assure that public broadcasting share in benefits from the sale of any ancillary products, books, recordings, toys, character licensing, or other products related to the broadcast of such programming. (Sec. 11) Requires the General Accounting Office to: (1) review the operations of the Corporation, PBS, Public Broadcasters and their program, and other contractors and make recommendations to the Congress for improving the efficiency and self-sufficiency of public broadcasting; and (2) conduct a feasibility study of merging or coordinating public broadcasting operations and facilities or portions of such with Federal international broadcasting operations. (Sec. 13) Qualifies public broadcast licensees for interstate and intrastate educational telecommunications service rates to the extent such rates are available and to the extent such services are used to provide public broadcasting.
People & committees
Sen. Exon, J. James [D-NE] · D–NE
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce.
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S13620-13621)
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Sep 8, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.1241 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.1241 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.1241 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.1241 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.