Streaming Television and Children: An Examination and Method of Evaluating SVOD Parental Controls

With the growth of streaming television in recent years, and particularly subscription video on demand (SVOD) services like Netflix and Disney+, children are increasingly viewing programming online rather than on traditional broadcast and cable television platforms. This provides children with instantaneous access to vast libraries of programming, which may include a significant amount of programming that is inappropriate for them. However, with the exception of the Parents Television Council, little attention has been paid to the parental controls provided by these services to allow parents to monitor and control their children’s access to programming on the services. This article examines the parental controls currently provided by the major SVOD services, proposes additional parental control capabilities that should be provided by the services, and identifies issues with existing controls that could be addressed to improve their effectiveness.

In doing so, the article proposes a system for evaluating SVOD parental controls, and identifies steps government can take to help improve their effectiveness.