DirecTV Gets Common Sense

The satellite operator has agreed to partner with Common Sense Media to post its TV reviews and recommendations on DirecTV.com.

Common Sense, whose founding board members include the presumptive nominee for FCC Chairman, Julius Genachowski, gives parents information on what it considers age-appropriate media content, including TV, movies and video games.

DirecTV viewers initially will have to go to the Web site for the ratings, but Common Sense says there are plans to expand it to set-tops and on-demand programming.

DirecTV's online program guide will link to Common Sense's information on sexual content violence and more.

Common Sense currently has content rating partnerships with top cavbe operators Comcast, Cox, Time Warner, as well as Google, MSN, AOL and others.

Common Sense advocates parental control over government control, saying that the price for a free media is "a little extra homework for the parents."

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.