Times have changed...
Over-the-Top or a Race to the Bottom:
A Parent’s Guide to Streaming Video
Melissa Henson, Program Director
2 | Parents Television Council
Families seeking a child-safe or family-friendly alternative to
traditional broadcast and cable television are not well-served in
the current Streaming Video On Demand (SVOD) and Over-the-
Top (OTT) marketplace. This is the major nding in the Parents
Television Council’s third analysis of emerging technologies, and
the PTC’s rst examination of the top streaming video platforms
and content providers.
We are in the midst of a revolutionary change in the way
audiences consume entertainment with the advent and rapid
expansion of SVOD and OTT video services. A new survey from
IBB Consulting reveals that almost half of all US broadband
customers subscribe to at least one OTT video service, about
one-third subscribe to two, and 18% subscribe to three or more
(Baumgartner, 2017). Meanwhile, Forbes reports that Netix has
surpassed cable in total subscribers (Morris, 2017).
Many families experiencing frustration with the lack of suitable
child- or family-friendly content on traditional broadcast and cable
TV have turned to SVOD and OTT as a preferred alternative. But
are they truly a viable alternative for families wishing to protect
their children from harmful and inappropriate media content?
To determine this, the PTC looked at the most popular OTT
streaming devices (Apple TV, Amazon FireTV, Google Chromecast,
and Roku), to assess the robustness of the parental controls and
the availability of child- or family-appropriate programming on
these systems and devices; as well as how those devices work
in conjunction with some of the most popular SVOD services
(Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Netix.)
Major Findings:
• Among top SVOD providers, there is no consistency in the
application or visibility of aged-based content ratings.
• While Hulu and Netix both provide the option of a separate
user prole for child viewers, there is nothing to stop a child from
switching over to an adult prole with either service. Amazon
does not provide a separate child user prole option.
• Netix offers categories of content that viewers may nd
offensive, which often feature pornographic titles and cover
art, and which often appear in close proximity to child-friendly
categories – with no clear or obvious way of eliminating those
categories from menu screens.
• Likewise, a child viewer using Amazon Prime Video may need
to scroll past adult-themed titles and cover art on promoted
original content in order to access child-friendly content.
• None of the SVOD services offer family plans which would
allow parents to block all explicit title at all times and across all
devices. A portion of your subscription fee is going to underwrite
explicit content.
• Among streaming devices, Chromecast was most limited, but
that limited functionality gives parents a high degree of control
over the content streamed over the device.
• AppleTV alone among the devices we looked at, applies
parental controls to music and podcasts, as well as video
content.
• Roku offers PIN-controlled restrictions to the channel store,
and V-Chip-type content control on Antenna-TV input, but no
additional content restrictions for SVOD services.
Recommendations
Adding families is a key growth strategy for streaming video
providers. That being the case, all SVOD providers need to
commit to the following to make their services and platforms more
family-friendly:
Uniform ratings system
All streaming video providers should agree to and adopt a uniform
standard for applying age-based and content ratings.
Give parents more control over content
When Sirius and XM Satellite Radio companies were seeking
regulatory approval to merge, the PTC called on corporate leaders
of the combined entity to offer a separate subscription tier for
families that did not want to underwrite explicit content. To this
day Sirius XM subscribers can select a “family friendly” package
that excludes explicit programming at a slightly reduced fee. A
similar option should be available to streaming video subscribers.
No family should have to underwrite, with their subscription
dollars, content they nd objectionable in order to get family-
quality content.
Block explicit titles when parental controls are turned on
If a parent has deployed parental controls to block a child from
viewing TV-MA, or R-rated content, those titles should no longer
be visible on the menu screen, especially if those titles contain
explicit words, descriptions or cover art.
In addition, it is time for Congress, the Federal Communications
Commission, and all interested parties to revisit the Child Safe
Viewing Act in light of newer technologies. Much has changed
since the law was passed in 2008, and services and platforms
that have emerged in recent years were not included in the
evaluation of blocking technologies and parental controls called
for by that Act.
We also call on all involved parties to commit to participating in a
symposium to identify and implement solutions to the problems and
challenges confronting families in light of technological changes.
We are in a period of revolutionary change in the way people
consume entertainment, and the media environment is changing
at a rapid pace. As technology continues to evolve, it is incumbent
on the companies leading the charge to also consider how
families will be impacted. It is our hope that this report will help to
get that dialogue started.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
BACKGROUND
The way audiences consume entertainment periodically undergoes
a revolutionary change. Vaudeville gave way to silent lms around
the turn of the last century, which in turn gave way to talking
pictures, which, by the 1950s, were losing ground to television.
These technological advances put pressure on the legacy
industries to innovate to stay competitive. The tension created
by competing industries often proves a boon to consumers who
now have better products to choose from and more options
available to them. Competition from TV, for example, pushed the
movie industry to introduce “Glorious Technicolor,” “Breathtaking
Cinemascope” and “Stereophonic Sound” to lure audiences back
to the cinemas.
We are in the midst of another such revolutionary change in the
way audiences consume entertainment with the advent and rapid
expansion of subscription Video-on-Demand (SVOD) and Over-
the-Top (OTT) video services. A new survey from IBB Consulting
reveals that almost half of all US broadband customers subscribe
to at least one OTT video service, about one-third subscribe to
two, and 18% subscribe to three or more (Baumgartner, 2017).
Meanwhile, Forbes reports that Netix has surpassed cable in
total subscribers (Morris, 2017).
Many millennials have never and will never subscribe to cable
(Newman, 2014); and with growing frustration over the lack of
choice and skyrocketing costs, hundreds of thousands of former
cable subscribers are cutting the cord --one study revealed that
the cable industry lost more than 658,000 subscribers during the
second quarter of 2015 alone (Cord, 2015)-- opting instead to
create their own á la carte packages using SVOD.
Competition from the SVOD services has forced many cable
companies to offer “skinny bundles,” to stop the hemorrhaging of
customers, but it may be too little too late to save the industry.
And if broadcasters were once tempted to scoff at SVOD services
as a novelty or temporary fad, they probably aren’t scofng
anymore. Original lms and series developed exclusively for SVOD
services are starting to dominate awards shows: Manchester By
the Sea, developed by Amazon, was nominated for six Academy
awards, including Best Picture, and brought home Oscars for Best
Actor and Best Original Screenplay; and this summer Amazon
Prime original series garnered sixteen Emmy nominations. Netix’s
House of Cards has won several Golden Globe and Screen Actors
Guild (SAG) awards for Best Actor and Best Actress, and Netix
original series racked-up 91 Emmy nominations this summer alone.
With an annual content budget of $2 billion, about 10% of which is
earmarked for originals, Netix is now a major player in Hollywood.
Meanwhile for families, OTT and SVOD provides an attractive,
(largely) commercial-free alternative to traditional broadcast and
cable television. With these services, parents need not worry
about their children being bombarded with ads for toys and candy,
or promos for adult-themed TV shows, movies or video games, or
suggestive commercials for beer, fast food, or ED drugs.
Recently, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB)
announced that it would mount a challenge to the Federal
Communications Commission’s (FCC) 2004 kidvid requirements
– a ruling that extended the FCC’s requirement that broadcast
channels offer three hours of Educational and Informational
children’s programming each week on their subchannels, just
as they do on their main channel; citing the abundance of kids’
programming now available on streaming and SVOD services.
But just how viable an alternative are these streaming services
and OTT devices for families wishing to protect their children from
harmful and inappropriate content? That is the question the PTC
seeks to answer in this report.
The Parents Television Council’s rst study of streaming video
came in 2008, with our Special Report “The New Tube: A Content
Analysis of YouTube -- the Most Popular Online Video Destination,”
which found that children had ready access to explicit content on
YouTube, even while searching for child or teen friendly terms. That
report was followed in 2010 with “Untangling the Web of Internet
Video: Questions, Answers, and a Report Card for Parents,” which
looked at some of the top streaming content providers at the time
and found that content providers were more lenient in applying age-
based ratings and entirely neglected to use content descriptors;
and that existing child safety online features did not effectively
block offensive content even from children who use every available
procedure to avoid the material.
Since that time, the streaming video marketplace has changed
substantially, with new devices and providers, necessitating a
fresh look at the top streaming video providers and services.
For the purposes of this report, trained PTC staff analyzed the
most popular OTT streaming devices (Apple TV, Amazon FireTV,
Google Chromecast, and Roku), to assess the robustness of the
parental controls and the availability of child- or family-appropriate
programming on these systems and devices.
In addition, we examined how those devices work in conjunction
with some of the most popular SVOD services (Amazon Prime,
Hulu, and Netix) to assess, among other things, whether age-
based or content ratings are being used; how easy or difcult it is
for a parent to determine a program’s rating; and the availability of
family-appropriate original content.
We looked at the process of setting up the parental controls on
both the devices themselves and on the streaming video services
to assess which devices give parents maximum control over the
content their children can access.
Because the menu of available programming on these services is
constantly in ux, and because of the enormous volume of content
available, we chose to narrow our focus to exclusive and original
content only to assess how much information is given to parents
about program content, how the ratings are applied, and how much
child- and family-appropriate programming is made available.
METHODOLOGY
A Parent’s Guide to Streaming Video | 3
4 | Parents Television Council
1. See Appendix for an explanation of the TVOMB and MPAA ratings.
Families seeking a child-safe or family-friendly alternative to
traditional broadcast and cable television are not well-served in
the current SVOD and OTT marketplace.
Streaming Video:
• Among top SVOD providers, there is no consistency in the
application of age-based content ratings:
• Netix uses a combination of TVOMB and MPAA ratings,
but only provides age-based guidance with no content
warnings or descriptors; and ratings are applied across
series instead of to individual episodes.
• Amazon Prime Video also uses a combination of TVOMB
and MPAA ratings
1
, and does apply ratings to individual
episodes, but is also inconsistent in the application of
content warnings and descriptors, even employing its own
non-standard descriptors in some instances.
• Hulu applies ratings to individual episodes, and is alone
among the SVOD providers we analyzed in using content
descriptors (TVOMB’s D, L, S, V).
• Among top SVOD providers, there is no consistency in the
visibility of content ratings information.
• While Hulu and Netix both provide the option of a
separate user prole for child viewers, there is nothing to
stop a child from switching over to an adult prole with
either service. Amazon does not provide a separate child
user prole option.
• Netix offers categories of content that viewers may nd
harmful or offensive, which often feature adult titles and
cover art, and which often appear in close proximity to
child-friendly categories – with no clear or obvious way of
eliminating those categories from menu screens.
• Likewise, a child viewer using Amazon Prime Video may
need to scroll past adult-themed titles and cover art on
promoted original content in order to access child-friendly
content.
• None of the SVOD services offer family plans which
would allow parents to block all explicit title at all times
and across all devices. A portion of the subscriber’s fee is
going to underwrite explicit content.
OTT Devices:
• Chromecast was most limited, but that limited functionality gives
parents a high degree of control over the content streamed over
the device.
• AppleTV alone among the devices we looked at, applies parental
controls to music and podcasts, as well as video content.
• Amazon’s FireTV is the only device to allow users to restrict
promoted content.
• Roku offers PIN-controlled restrictions to the channel store,
and V-Chip-type content control on Antenna-TV input, but no
additional content restrictions for SVOD services.
Hulu Amazon Prime Video Netix
Use of Ratings B C C-
Parental Controls C- B+ B+
Visibility of Adult Titles/Content B+ C D
Original Content for Families D C C-
Device Grade
Google Chromecast A
Apple TV B
Amazon FireTV C
Roku D
Report Card
Report Card
KEY FINDINGS
Google Chromecast
Cost: $35 (basic), $65
(ultra)
Grade: A
Pros
Among the devices we
reviewed, the Chromecast is
the most limited in terms of
functionality, but that limited functionality also means maximum
control for parents. The device is controlled via a mobile app (i.e.
no remote control), and has no pre-loaded apps or menu screens.
Instead, you “Cast” the content onto the television screen from
your preferred mobile app (including Netix, GooglePlay, Hulu, and
YouTube). Therefore, whoever holds the smart phone controls the
content, and since it’s unlikely a parent would hand their phone
over to a child for an extended period, unsupervised, it all but
guarantees that viewing will only be done with adult supervision.
Cons
The biggest PRO for the Chromecast could also be the biggest
“CON.” To wit, it cannot be used without a smartphone or mobile
device and the Google Home app. Video quality is signicantly
poorer than on competing devices.
Setting Up the Parental Controls
Parental Controls are set on the individual apps that are used to
“Cast” onto the TV. There do not appear to be separate controls
for the device.
Apple TV
Cost: $99
Grade: B
Pros
It should not come as a
surprise that among the
most popular OTT streaming
devices, Apple gets top marks for giving parents control over
content. Apple has long led the industry in keeping pornography
off its devices and in giving parents robust controls on its internet-
connected devices. When Steve Jobs was still alive, he was once
asked by reporters whether Apple would keep its strong content
restrictions in place on newer model iPhones. Jobs said, “You
know, there’s a porn store for Android. You can download nothing
but porn. You can download porn, your kids can download porn.
That’s a place we don’t want to go.” He later wrote to a customer,
“We do believe we have a moral responsibility to keep porn off the
iPhone. Folks who want porn can buy Android.”
Apple seems to have given considerably more thought to
the kinds of content parents might wish to restrict than its
competitors. Parents can set-up the device to require a passcode
to purchase or rent movies and TV shows, or to purchase music;
but unlike other systems which appear to allow restrictions only on
video content, the AppleTV also allows parents to restrict music
and podcasts with adult content or lyrics.
Cons
One of the most common complaints about the iPhone is that it
comes with certain apps preinstalled that cannot be removed.
That criticism can also be applied to the Apple TV device.
Whereas other OTT streaming devices allow you to select
the “apps” or channels you want available, Apple comes pre-
loaded, with no obvious way to add or remove them from the
menu screen; however, many are unusable without an added
subscription (like Netix and Hulu), or will only give you access to
short preview videos until you “activate” the app by proving you
have an existing cable subscription (like FX, History, or Disney).
Setting Up the Parental Controls
To set parental controls your Apple TV device:
1. Select Settings
2. Select General, scroll down to “Restrictions”
3. Select “Turn On Restrictions”
4. You will need to create a 4-digit pin.
5. Available restrictions include:
• Purchasing/Rental
• Ratings for (by country)
• Restrict Movies To (G, PG, PG-13, R or No Restriction)
• Restrict TV Shows To (TV-Y, TV-Y7, TV-G, TV-PG, TV-14,
TV-MA or No Restriction)
• Explicit Music and Podcasts (No restriction, Ask, or
Allowed)
Even with parental controls turned-on, promoted content may
include mature or adult-rated lms and TV series.
When restrictions are turned on, the user must enter the four- digit
pin (or passcode) to launch Netix, HBO Now, and a number
of other apps. However, several apps will launch without rst
entering a pin, including Hulu.
Amazon FireTV
Cost: $39.99-89.99
Grade: C
Pros
Understandably,
Amazon’s Fire TV device gives preference to Amazon
Prime Video content; but users also have the ability to add, other
apps and channels, including games, which the AppleTV device
does not. The Amazon FireTV also appears to be the only device
that allows users to restrict featured content.
Cons
FireTV devices are Alexa (Amazon’s proprietary voice-activated
“intelligent personal assistant”) enabled and will give you access to
Amazon’s entire streaming music catalogue. Even when Parental
Controls are enabled, Alexa will play back songs with explicit
lyrics. Parental controls and content restrictions appear to only
apply to video content.
Because the FireTV is owned by Amazon, Amazon Prime content
is heavily marketed on the menu screens, and although users can
require a passcode to view adult videos, suggestive cover art and
titles can still be seen by children.
OTT DEVICES
A Parent’s Guide to Streaming Video | 5
6 | Parents Television Council
Setting Up The Parental Controls
To set parental controls on your FireTV device:
1. Go to Settings
2. Select Preferences
3. Select “Parental Controls:
4. Create 5-digit pin/passcode.
5. Available restrictions include:
• Protect purchases
• Set viewing restrictions (Limited to General, Family, Teen,
Mature)
• Protect app launches
• Protect prime photos app
You can also use the parental controls to limit featured content by
turning off “allow video autoplay” and “allow audio autoplay”
With parental controls turned on, including “limit featured content,”
promoted content still included MA-rated series like “The Man
in the High Castle,” “American Gods,” “Keeping Up With the
Kardashians,” and “Orphan Black.”
Roku
Cost: $49.99-99.99
Grade: D
Pros
Roku offers some
parental controls, but they
are less robust than competing models.
Cons
The Roku comes with some apps and channels preinstalled (like
Netix and Amazon Prime Video), and others that can be added.
While we were unable to nd any additional parental controls on
the device we reviewed, a company representative informed us
that there are parental control settings that allow parents to restrict
adding or purchasing channels from the Roku Channel Store,
using a four-digit PIN.
The Roku website notes: “Creating a PIN only affects the ability to
purchase or add channels from the Roku Channel Store. It does
not lter channels or block content from the Roku Channel Store.”
We were also informed that the Roku Movie Store and TV Store
can be hidden from the main screen, along with the News option.
Roku also has an Antenna TV input, and has the option of setting-
up parental controls for broadcast content that works like the
V-Chip, allowing parents to restrict broadcast content based on
age rating or content descriptor; but these content controls only
work in Antenna mode, and not on SVOD services like Netix,
Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video.
Roku’s biggest shortcoming seems to lie in the fact that parental
controls that are already in place on the supported apps/channels
don’t seem to work all that well within the Roku framework. For
example, though users can create a separate user prole for Kids
on Netix, Roku defaults to the adult/owner prole; however, if the
parental controls for Netix are turned on, no user -- not even the
account owner – can play video content that is age-restricted.
Instead, users receive an error message saying “This title cannot
be played on this device because it requires a parental control
PIN. Please try on a different device.”
Parental Controls on Amazon Prime Video do work within the
Roku framework: users enter a ve-digit pin to view content that is
age-restricted. However, as noted elsewhere, there is no separate
user prole, and the “ltering” options on the Amazon Prime Video
app only enable you to narrow your search by program type (e.g.
movies, TV shows, prime video, channels, rent or buy).
Setting Up the Parental Controls
Users need to log-in online to set up a 4-digit PIN. This cannot be
done on the device itself.
1. Go to my.roku.com from your computer or smartphone.
2. Sign in to your Roku account.
3. Under PIN Preference, select Update.
4. Select your PIN preference from the three choices:
• Always require a PIN to make purchases and to add
items from the Channel Store.
• Always require a PIN to make purchases.
• A PIN is not required to make any purchase or add any
item from the Channel Store.
5. If you choose either of the rst two choices and have
not created a PIN, you will be prompted to enter a four-
digit number in the PIN eld and select the Verify PIN eld
for conrmation.
6. If you already have a PIN, enter your PIN in the Verify
PIN eld.
7. Select Save Changes and agree to the terms of service.
Cost: $7.99/month (Limited Commercials)
$11.99/month (No Commercials)
Use of Ratings: B
Parental Controls: C-
Visibility of Adult Titles/Content: B+
Original Content for Families: D
Ratings System Used
Hulu uses a combination of the MPAA and TVOMB ratings.
Among the top SVOD services, Hulu is the only one to consistently use
content descriptors in conjunction with the age-based rating.
Visibility of Age-Based or Content Ratings On
Menu and On Individual Episodes
No ratings information is readily visible on the Hulu webpage. The
user would have to “hover” over the episode box on web interface
to see what the episode is rated. However, ratings information does
appear at the beginning of the program, just as it does on traditional
STREAMING SERVICES
A Parent’s Guide to Streaming Video | 7
broadcast or cable programming.
Episodes are rated individually.
Difculty of Setting-Up Parental Controls
When creating a user prole, a date of birth is required to complete set-
up. If the date of birth is later than 2004 (making the user 13-years-old
or younger), the user is prompted to turn on “kids” to continue creating
the prole. A user can create multiple user proles, one for each
member of the family, if so desired, but there are no additional age-
based, or content-based parental controls (equivalent to the V-chip).
How Difcult is it for Parents to Limit a Child’s
Ability to View Adult Titles or Promotions?
When a child is using the “Kids” prole, there is very little risk of seeing
adult titles or promotions for mature-rated content. Of the three
services we reviewed, Hulu had the least problematic titles and cover
art for available titles, even among adult selections.
Difculty of Circumventing Parental Controls
There are no pin or password restrictions to stop a user from switching
proles, so a child can easily switch over to an adult user’s prole.
About Hulu Original Content
Hulu has the fewest original/exclusive offerings of the three top
streaming content providers. Of the original/exclusive content
available on Hulu, we found only one rated TV-Y, none rated TV-G,
and one cartoon that is sometimes rated TV-PG and sometimes
TV-14. That said, as a ratio of total original content, TV-MA is less
dominant on Hulu than on Amazon Prime and Netix.
Hulu has a lower ratio of TV-MA-rated original or exclusive
programming as compared to its top competitors (Amazon Prime
Video and Netix), both in absolute terms, and across genres.
Programming Distribution by Rating
NYR
TV-14
TV-MA
TV-Y
Original Content on Hulu:
* Note: Where individual episodes within a series carried different age-based ratings, the entire series was categorized under the highest rating assigned to any
episode in the series. Programs not yet rated were removed.
TV-14
TV-MA
TV-Y
NA
NR
Documentary SeriesKids
TV-14
TV-MA
0
3
6
9
12
15
11
1
16
15
Cost: $99/year (part of Amazon Prime membership)
Use of Ratings: C
Parental Controls: B+
Visibility of Adult Titles/Content: C
Original Content for Families: C
Ratings System Used
Amazon Video uses both the Motion Picture Association of
America (MPAA) ratings classication system and the TV Guidelines
Organization TV Parental Controls as the basis for its parental controls
ratings categories.
Amazon has combined ratings into levels with recommended
audiences (General, Family, Teen, and Mature) to help parents set
viewing restrictions.
Content descriptors are not used.
8 | Parents Television Council
Visibility of Age-Based or Content Ratings on
Menu and on Individual Episodes
Episodes are rated individually.
Ratings information is visible on the website, but not consistently
displayed at the beginning of episodes. Content descriptors are not
universally applied and do not consistently follow the TVOMB model.
For example, on “Alpha House” descriptors used include AC (Adult
Content), AL (Adult Language), N (Nudity), SS (Sexual Situations); but
no ratings information or content warnings are given at the beginning
of “American Playboy.”
Two MA-rated episodes of “Eat the World with Emeril Lagasse”
stipulate in the episode description “Viewer Discretion Adult
Language.” Other episodes in the series are rated TV-14 with no
further explanation or justication given for the rating.
Difculty of Setting-Up Parental Controls
You can log into your account using the mobile app or online to set
parental controls across all devices, or on selected devices.
Parental controls can be used to restrict rental and purchase or to
restrict content.
Parental controls/restrictions are limited to general categories (G:
General, 7: Family, 13: Teen, 18: Mature), restricted by PIN. Amazon
also provides step-by-step instructions on setting up and using
Parental Controls.
How Difcult is it for Parents to Limit a Child’s
Ability to View Adult Titles or Promotions?
No separate log-in or user prole for children, so that even if you set
parental controls so that children cannot stream adult content, they
still scroll past adult content on menu screens, which may contain
suggestive language or imagery (E.g. on Amazon Prime, this might
include “Transparent” “American Playboy” or “I Love Dick.”)
Difculty of Circumventing Parental Controls
To change the parental control settings, you need to enter your
Amazon account password as well as the ve-digit PIN.
About Amazon Prime Video Original Content
Although Amazon offers a fair amount of original kids programming, the
bulk of their original content is for mature audiences only, across genres.
However, General-Audience programming is better represented on
Amazon Prime Video than on Netix or Hulu.
Anime Documentary SeriesFilm Kids
TV-NR
R
TV-MA
PG
PG-13
R
TV-G
TV-MA
TV-Y
TV-Y7
TV-Y7-FV
TV-14
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Ratings Distribution on Amazon Prime
PG
PG-13
R
TV-14
TV-G
TV-MA
TV-NR
TV-Y
TV-Y7
TV-Y7-FV
Original Content on Amazon Prime:
* Note: Where individual episodes
within a series carried different
age-based ratings, the entire series
was categorized under the highest
rating assigned to any episode in the
series. Programs not yet rated were
removed.
2
2
1
2
9
35
6
4
15
11
A Parent’s Guide to Streaming Video | 9
Cost: $7.99/month
Use of Ratings: C-
Parental Controls: B+
Visibility of Adult Titles/Content: D
Original Content for Families: C-
Ratings System Used
Netix uses a combination of TVOMB and MPAA ratings on its
programs, but for Netix exclusives/originals, they primarily follow the
TVOMB system, even for movies and documentaries.
Visibility of Age-Based or Content Ratings On
Menu and On Individual Episodes
Unlike its top two competitors (Amazon Prime Video and Hulu) Netix
rates entire series, rather than individual episodes.
Ratings information is visible on the show’s Netix page and on menu
screens, but does not appear at the beginning of the episode.
No clear justication for the rating is given, so an MA rating could be
because of harsh language, violence, nudity, or sexual content, and there
is no practical way of knowing without watching the program to nd out.
Only age-based guidance is provided, no content descriptors are
provided (other than FV in the kids’ category).
Difculty of Setting-Up Parental Controls
Parental Controls can be set up either through the mobile app or the
Netix website.
When you create a new account, Netix will automatically create
an adult user prole under the name of the account owner, as well
as a “kids” prole. Both proles can be managed and customized
online, although the default for both adult proles and kids proles is
minimally restrictive. To set parental controls, you can create a four-
digit pin which will be required to view content above the selected age
level. Age-based content restrictions include Little Kids (TV-Y, TVG,
G); Older Kids (TV-Y7-FV, TV-PG, TV-Y7, PG); Teens (TV-14, PG-13);
and Adults (TV-MA, R, NC-17).
To change your preferences within the prole, select “manage proles”
and tap the pencil icon to edit. You can change the prole name and
add additional proles so that every member of the family has their
own customized prole. Within a “kids” prole, you can select a box
that will only allow TV shows and movies for kids 12 and under. You
can also choose from a drop-down box that will restrict viewing to
“older kids and below” or “little kids only.”
Within the Adult prole you can also restrict content by age (teens and
below or all maturity levels).
How Difcult is it for Parents to Limit a Child’s
Ability to View Adult Titles or Promotions?
Without making any changes to the “kids” prole, we note that the
Netix original series “Anne with an E” is prominent on the menu screen
(concerns about the content in that series are addressed at http://
dailycaller.com/2017/05/01/breaking-anne/), as well as other series and
titles that parents might nd unsuitable for very young children.
With the “Little Kids Only” option selected, we note that “Fuller
House” was still visible on the menu screen (Content concerns with
that series are addressed
http://w2.parentstv.org/blog/index.php/2016/03/05/nostalgia-on-demand/.)
If you attempt to search for an adult title within the “Kids” prole, the
search will return nothing.
On the adult prole, categories of content include Gritty Movies
(“Magic Mike” is the rst title in that row); Independent Movies,
which may have very adult themes and adult content on the cover
art or in the title itself, like “Zack and Miri make a Porno,” and
“Nymphomaniac”; Dark Movies, LGBTQ Movies, and Horror Movies
with nightmare-inducing (especially for a child) cover art.
All of these categories appear in close proximity to child- or family-
friendly categories such as “Feel Good Movies” (which includes titles
like “Baby’s Day Out,” “Anastasia,” “The Iron Giant,” “Brother Bear 2,”
“The Little Prince,” etc.).
*More on this below.
Difculty of Circumventing Parental Controls
With parental controls set, a child would need to know and enter
the four-digit pin to view content above the age-restriction set by
the parent, however it is important to note that a child using Netix
can open and browse an adult prole without having to rst enter a
password, even if parental controls are turned on.
Original Content on Netix
Netix lists 379 exclusive or original titles, of which 366 are available in
the U.S., making it by far the biggest player in the category of original
streaming content.
Like Amazon Prime Video, Netix produces a considerable amount of
original and exclusive kids programming, and a considerable amount
of original and exclusive adult programming, but offers little for the
whole family.
More than half (57%) of Netix original/exclusive programming is
rated TV-MA, and across all genres (excluding “kids,”) MA-rated
programming dominates.
Looking only at (already rated) series programming on Netix, 65% is
rated TV-MA, 1 (1%) is rated G, and only 8 (8%) rated PG.
Among Netix Exclusive/Original lms, none are rated “G,” while 72%
are rated TV-MA.
Only 4 minutes out of every hour of original series programming is
suitable for a family audience (rated PG or lower) and less than 1
minute out of every hour of original series programming is rated G.
If your plans include family movie night, in less than ve hours – or
three movie nights, tops – you will have exhausted Netix’s entire
inventory of original lms rated PG or lower.
10 | Parents Television Council
There is no obvious way to eliminate either problematic categories
or specic titles from the menu screen, and they remain visible even
with the parental controls turned on. The only way to eliminate the
titles from the menu is by changing the viewer prole preferences to
teen and below; but this is a shotgun approach to content control,
rather than a sniper approach – Instead of eliminating specic items
of concern, you must restrict or eliminate the bulk of the Netix
catalogue from your menu.
After spending some time looking for help online (no information on
removing categories of content was readily available on the Netix
site), various user forums and websites suggested that eliminating
problematic content categories can be accomplished by lling in
a preferences survey, but the link given (http://movies.netix.com/
TastePreferences) appears to have been removed or disabled
from the Netix website. Other sites suggested going to the “taste
preferences menu” and selecting “taste preferences,” but it appears
that the Netix website has also done away with those options, or in
any case, they are not easy to locate, and do not appear either under
“Account” or “Manage Proles.”
* Even within more mainstream categories, some of the cover-art is clearly inappropriate, and you end up with titles like “Sausage Party” next to “The B.F.G.,” or
“Family Guy” between “Minions” and “Finding Dory.” If a parent has not set-up the parental controls and is not familiar with those specic titles, they might easily
be misled by their proximity to other children’s titles into thinking that those programs were similarly suitable for young viewers.
Also troubling is the juxtaposition of adult imagery in or near categories specically for child or family viewing, like the image of a sex toy right
above the “Children and Family Movies” category:
Ratings Distribution on Amazon Prime
NR
NYR
PG
R
TV-14
TV-G
TV-MA
TV-PG
TV-Y
TV-Y7
TV-Y7-FV
UR
Original Content on Netix:
1
1
1
60
6
175
11
11
16
5
61
18
A Parent’s Guide to Streaming Video | 11
*Programs that were Not Yet Rated have been removed
Children’s programming has become the bait that content providers
use to hook families into subscribing to their streaming video services
and sticking with them (Brustein, 2015). Streaming video services
can also give parents an illusion of greater control over the content
their child consumes. And while there are many upsides for parents in
switching from cable or broadcast to a streaming service, parents need
to be aware of the potential downsides.
Taken as a whole, families are not especially well-served by existing
OTT devices and streaming video providers. Though most streaming
services offer ample programming for young children, there is a lack of
original general-audience or family programming across the board – so
if your child is too old for “Bubble Guppies,” but not yet old enough for
“Stranger Things,” most services have little to offer.
Although most video providers use some form of age-based content
rating, there is no uniformity across platforms in how those ratings are
applied and displayed.
And while many of these streaming video services offer fairly robust
parental controls, it is too easy for children to view suggestive adult
titles and cover art.
By using a combination of parental controls on the devices and on
the streaming services themselves, a parent can do a reasonably
good, if not perfect, job of limiting their child’s ability to access adult
content, but there is substantial room for improvement. If families truly
are vital to the stability and continued growth of subscription video
services, they need to act to provide a more child- and family-friendly
environment for those subscribers. To wit:
Uniform ratings system
All streaming video providers should agree to and adopt a uniform
standard for applying age-based and content ratings.
Give parents more control over content
When Sirius and XM Satellite Radio companies were seeking
regulatory approval to merge, the PTC called on corporate leaders
of the combined entity to offer a separate subscription tier for families
that did not want to underwrite explicit content. To this day Sirius
XM subscribers can select a “family friendly” package that excludes
explicit programming at a slightly reduced fee. A similar option
should be available to streaming video subscribers. No family should
have to underwrite, with their subscription dollars, content they nd
objectionable in order to get family-quality content.
Block explicit titles when parental controls are turned on
If a parent has deployed parental controls to block a child from
viewing TV-MA, or R-rated content, those titles should no longer be
visible on the menu screen, especially if those titles contain explicit
words, descriptions or cover art.
In addition, it is time for Congress, the Federal Communications
Commission, and all interested parties to revisit the Child Safe Viewing
Act in light of newer technologies. Much has changed since the law
was passed in 2008, and services and platforms that have emerged
in recent years were not included in the evaluation of blocking
technologies and parental controls called for by that Act.
We also call on all involved parties to commit to participating in a
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
TV-14
TV-MA
NR
TV-14
TV-MA
TV-PG
NR
PG
TV-PG
TV-PG
TV-Y
TV-Y
TV-14
TV-14
TV-14
TV-14
TV-MA
TV-MA
TV-MA
TV-MA
R
TV-14
TV-MA
TV-PG
UR
TV-G
TV-G
TV-Y7-FV
TV-Y7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Anime
Series Documentary Film Kids Series
One-Hour
Special Talkshow
Stand-Up
Comedy Special
symposium to identify and implement solutions to the problems and
challenges confronting families in light of technological changes.
We are in a period of revolutionary change in the way people consume
entertainment, and the media environment is changing at a rapid pace.
As technology continues to evolve, it is incumbent on the companies
leading the charge to also consider how families will be impacted. It is
our hope that this report will help to get that dialogue started.
Most broadcast and cable television will also use one or more
of the following content descriptors to indicate elevated levels of
certain types of content.
V – violence
S – sexual situations
L – coarse or crude indecent language
D – suggestive dialogue (usually means talk about sex)
FV – fantasy violence
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ratings Systems Explained
TVOMB Ratings
MPAA Ratings
APPENDIX
TV-Y
This program is designed to be appropriate for
all children
TV-Y7
This program is designed for children age 7
and above
TV-Y7-FV
Some programs may be given the “FV” content
descriptor if they exhibit more ‘fantasy violence,’
and/or are generally more intense or combative
than other programs rated TV-Y7
TV-G
Most parents would nd this program suitable for
all ages
TV-PG
This program contains material that parents may
nd unsuitable for younger children
TV-14
This program contains some material that many
parents would nd unsuitable for children under
14 years of age
TV-MA
This program is specically designed to
be viewed by adults and therefore may be
unsuitable for children under 17
G
GENERAL AUDIENCES
All ages admitted.
PG
PARENTAL GUIDANCE
SUGGESTED
Some material may not be
suitable for children.
PG-13
PARENTS STRONGLY
CAUTIONED
Some material may be
inappropriate for children
under 13.
R
RESTRICTED Under 17 requires
accompanying parent or
adult guardian.
NC-17
NO ONE 17 AND UNDER
ADMITTED
707 Wilshire Boulevard #2075 | Los Angeles, CA 90017
Phone: (213) 403-1300 | Toll-Free: (800) 882-6868 | Fax: (213) 403-1301
www.parentstv.org
The Parents Television Council
®
(www.parentstv.org
®
) is a non-partisan education
organization advocating responsible entertainment.
Baumgartner, J. (2017, June 15). Nearly Half of Broadband Consumers Subscribe to a Video OTT Service: Study. Retrieved from MultiChannel
News: http://www.multichannel.com/news/content/nearly-half-broadband-consumers-subscribe-video-ott-service-study/413387
Brustein, J. (2015, August 14). Why HBO, Netix, and Amazon Want Your Kids. Retrieved from The Star: https://www.thestar.com/
business/2015/08/14/why-hbo-netix-and-amazon-want-your-kids.html
Cord, M. P.-T. (2015, September 4). More People Are Cutting the Pay-TV Cord. Retrieved from Consumer Reports: http://www.consumerreports.
org/cro/tvservices/more-people-are-cutting-the-pay-tv-cord
Morris, I. (2017, June 13). Netix Is Now Bigger Than Cable TV. Retrieved from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ianmorris/2017/06/13/
netix-is-now-bigger-than-cable-tv/#51bcf7d7158b
Newman, J. (2014, October 15). Nearly 1 in 4 millennials have cut the cord or never had cable. Retrieved from TechHive: http://www.techhive.
com/article/2833829/nearly-1-in-4-millennials-have-cut-the-cord-or-never-had-cable.html
This research report was made possible thanks to the generous support of:
Anschutz Foundation
Dodge Jones Foundation
The G.A. Foster Legacy Foundation
The Louis & Gladyce Foster Family Foundation
William E. Simon Foundation
Stuart Family Foundation
