In 1996, the United States Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 – which was signed into law by then-President of the United States Bill Clinton; among the changes to broadcast regulation incurred by the passage of the law included the relaxing of radio and television ownership limits, and it would also regulate children's television substantially. All broadcast television stations would be required to air three hours of educational and informative ("E/I") children's programming on a weekly basis. With a few exceptions; however, the weekday cartoons were then not considered to meet the requirements set by the federal mandates. The Federal Communications Commission also placed new regulations on advertising content, making selling commercial time during entertainment-based children's programming difficult on over-the-air stations (cable channels, in comparison, would not face the same stringent regulations). The decline of the weekday cartoons began in 1997, as the FCC's new regulations on children's programming resulted in complaints from local stations regarding the ability to make airing cartoons financially viable.