COMPANY TOWN ANNEX

Call Issued for More, Better Children’s Programming: A national coalition of more than 80 groups--including the National Education Assn., the U.S. Catholic Conference and the American Academy of Pediatrics--sent a letter urging the Federal Communications Commission to strengthen the guidelines for children’s television. The FCC, which is expected to issue proposed guidelines in March, is considering a “marketplace” approach that would allow a commercial station to fulfill its obligation to provide educational programming for children by paying a PBS station in its market to carry such fare. The coalition asked instead that each station be required to provide an hour a day of children’s educational programming.