DISH has partnered with Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping kids and families thrive in a world of media and technology, to provide households with age-appropriate ratings and reviews, as well as content ratings that evaluate on a 0–5 scale the degree to which certain topics, including violence, positive role models, sex, and language, are present in a movie or TV show.
These features are available today on DISHAnywhere.com, and will be available on DISH Anywhere mobile apps and Hopper DVR in the coming months.
“DISH continues to improve on its technology to enhance choice and control, all at no additional cost to our customers,” said Vivek Khemka, senior vice president of product management at DISH. “Today’s movie and TV ratings do not fully encompass the age appropriateness for each program. Our partnership with Common Sense Media offers families age-appropriate reviews and ratings that make it easy and convenient for parents to make informed decisions on the programs their kids watch.”
Common Sense Media provides a minimum age rating for each title, up to 18 years. Age ratings are followed by a brief overview of what parents should know before their families view a TV series or movie, including a short analysis of how young viewers may react to various aspects of a title’s plot and theme. To access ratings and reviews, DISHAnywhere.com users can select the newly added Parental Guide page within a program’s profile.
Common Sense Media’s content ratings evaluate the content of movies and TV shows on a 0–5 scale. Evaluated content spans across eight different categories: positive role models, positive messages, sex, violence, educational value, consumerism, language and drinking, drugs, and smoking. The 0–5 scale represents the degree to which each topic is present in the program. If three dots are highlighted, there is a fair amount of that type of content, whereas five dots indicates a significant amount of that content.
Amy Guggenheim Shenkan, president and COO of Common Sense Media, said, “Our goal is to provide families with the information and tools they need to make informed decisions about the media their children consume. We appreciate that DISH is empowering families to make smart media choices, right at the point of decision, through integrating our ratings and reviews into their DISH Anywhere platform.”
The DISH Anywhere mobile app is available for download on iOS and Android smart phones and tablets, as well as Amazon Fire HDX tablets. For more information on DISHAnywhere.com and the DISH Anywhere mobile app, visit their website.
