Our goal at Common Sense Media is to help parents make informed choices about the right entertainment for their family through a media ratings system based on child development guidelines. We’ve been working with Comcast for years to put this information at Xfinity customers’ fingertips and we’re excited to further expand this partnership with two exciting new developments:
As part of its Summer of Kids event, Comcast recently announced plans to integrate Common Sense Media's ratings into www.xfinity.com/TV. Now, when parents select a piece of content to watch online or On Demand, they’ll see our familiar green, yellow and red ratings that indicate our recommended age range for that title. If we’ve rated it, they’ll see it.
Comcast also recently added the ability to filter content by age, based on our ratings system, to the Xfinity On Demand menu on the set-top box. So, for example, Sprout’s The Sunny Side Up Show will appear in a new "2+" folder since we’ve deemed it appropriate for that age range. We’re also working with them to provide specific movie collections On Demand (e.g., "Best Family Movies") to make discovery even easier.
These two announcements follow closely on the heels of an announcement at NCTA’s The Cable Show 2013 to integrate our rating system more deeply into Comcast’s X1 platform. We hope to launch that by the end of the year, and we’re going to continue working with Comcast to provide even more ways for Xfinity TV customers to find the best content for their families.
The idea of their kids having access to an increased amount of content on a variety of platforms can definitely be a concerning one for parents. But by working closely with Comcast and providing clear, practical information right at the point of decision, we aim to set parents' minds at ease with tools to make safe and smart decisions on the entertainment their families watch – no matter where and how they do it.