842
Breyer, J., dissenting
gives parents the power to tell cable operators to keep any channel out of their home. Section 505 does more. Unless parents explicitly consent, it inhibits the transmission of adult cable channels to children whose parents may be unaware of what they are watching, whose parents cannot easily supervise television viewing habits, whose parents do not know of their § 504 "opt-out" rights, or whose parents are simply unavailable at critical times. In this respect, § 505 serves the same interests as the laws that deny children access to adult cabarets or X-rated movies. E. g., Del. Code Ann., Tit. 11, § 1365(i)(2) (1995); D. C. Code Ann. § 22- 2001(b)(1)(B) (1996). These laws, and § 505, all act in the absence of direct parental supervision.
This legislative objective is perfectly legitimate. Where over 28 million school age children have both parents or their only parent in the work force, where at least 5 million children are left alone at home without supervision each week, and where children may spend afternoons and evenings watching television outside of the home with friends, § 505 offers independent protection for a large number of families. See U. S. Dept. of Education, Office of Research and Improvement, Bringing Education into the After-School Hours 3 (summer 1999). I could not disagree more when the majority implies that the Government's independent interest in offering such protection—preventing, say, an 8-year-old child from watching virulent pornography without parental consent—might not be "compelling." Ante, at 825. No previous case in which the protection of children was at issue has suggested any such thing. Indeed, they all say precisely the opposite. See Reno, supra, at 865 (State has an "independent interest in the well-being of its youth"); Denver Area, 518 U. S., at 743; New York v. Ferber, 458 U. S. 747, 756-757 (1982); Ginsberg, 390 U. S., at 640; Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U. S. 158, 165 (1944). They make clear that Government has a compelling interest in helping parents by preventing
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