When the Canadian version of the violence classification system goes into testing later this month, chances are it will look a lot like the American ratings code on-screen since Jan. 1.

Details of the Canadian classification system are being kept tighter than who shot j.r., but sources say the multilayered prototype in trial with Shaw Communications and Rogers Communications for more than a year has been scrapped in favor of an age-based ratings system compatible with the u.s.

Mid-December, mmpa president Jack Valenti announced the networks’ ratings system, which is loosely based on the guidelines for motion pictures, running tv-g (all ages), tv-y for all youth, tv-y-7 for children 7 and over, and tv-m (mature.)

The Canadian code, which in v-chip trials incorporated Ontario Film Review Board ratings (r, a, pg, g and e) and gauges for language, sexuality, and violence (grading programs from 0 to 5), has been revamped to focus solely on violence. Language and sexuality will reportedly be taken into account in the definitions of what constitutes a g-type versus a pg-type program, but test results indicated a multilayered approach was the antithesis of user-friendly.

The Action Group on Violence on Television filed a draft of its ratings system to the crtc at the end of the year, as required, and received approval in principle. Heritage Canada was briefed Jan. 6. A 500-household trial is expected to begin in late January, running through February and March in designated homes in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Edmonton and Trois Rivieres.

The numbers and letters attached to the five-level Canadian code may vary from the American offering but the approach and substance will be u.s.-compatible. Since we view the same programs, two radically different systems would confuse people and render the exercise pointless, say many attached to the project.

In the u.s., the show isn’t over. Critics of the system, which include children’s groups, say the numbers do little to inform parents of the content of the program. The system is still subject to fcc approval, with the mechanism in place for it to give a government-appointed panel the chance to develop a ratings system.

Infighting is also in process over who will rate the programs. Producers, broadcasters and others that originate the programs have been given the responsibility, but critics want it administered by an independent board, arguing that the temptation will be to label everything a tv-g or tv-pg.

agvot’s final version of the classification system is due April 30. The crtc ‘strongly expects’ that programs will be coded for the beginning of the 1997/98 season. AV