Trademark Problem: `TV-M' To Become `TV-Ma'

WASHINGTON - The TV industry is changing its "M" rating because computer and video game makers, which have legal dibs on it, use the symbol in their ratings.

The TV industry has notified federal regulators that it will change the ratings symbol "TV-M," for mature audiences only, to "TV-MA."

The Interactive Digital Software Association insisted that the rating be changed to avoid a trademark infringement with the "M" rating it has used for two years for mature computer and video games.

The change will take effect Saturday. The Federal Communications Commission announced it yesterday.

Though the "mature audience only" category's rating symbol is changing, the content description that goes along with it is not.