Sec.  73.671   Educational and informational programming for children.

   Link to an amendment published at  70 FR 37 , January 3, 2005.

   (a) Each commercial and noncommercial educational television broadcast
   station licensee has an obligation to serve, over the term of its license,
   the educational and informational needs of children through both the
   licensee's overall programming and programming specifically designed to
   serve such needs.

   (b) Any special nonbroadcast efforts which enhance the value of children's
   educational and informational television programming, and any special effort
   to produce or support educational and informational television programming
   by another station in the licensee's marketplace, may also contribute to
   meeting the licensee's obligation to serve, over the term of its license,
   the educational and informational needs of children.

   (c) For purposes of this section, educational and informational television
   programming is any television programming that furthers the educational and
   informational needs of children 16 years of age and under in any respect,
   including the child's intellectual/cognitive or social/emotional needs.
   Programming specifically designed to serve the educational and informational
   needs of children (“Core Programming”) is educational and informational
   programming that satisfies the following additional criteria:

   (1) It has serving the educational and informational needs of children ages
   16 and under as a significant purpose;

   (2) It is aired between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.;

   (3) It is a regularly scheduled weekly program;

   (4) It is at least 30 minutes in length;

   (5) The program is identified as specifically designed to educate and inform
   children by the display on the television screen throughout the program of
   the symbol E/I;

   (6) Instructions for listing the program as educational/informational,
   including an indication of the age group for which the program is intended,
   are provided by the licensee to publishers of program guides, as described
   in  Sec. 73.673(b).

   Note 1 to  Sec. 73.671: For purposes of determining under this section whether
   programming has a significant purpose of serving the educational and
   informational needs of children, the Commission will ordinarily rely on the
   good faith judgments of the licensee. Commission review of compliance with
   that element of the definition will be done only as a last resort.

   Note 2 to  Sec. 73.671: The Commission will use the following processing
   guideline in assessing whether a television broadcast licensee has complied
   with the Children's Television Act of 1990 (“CTA”). A licensee that has
   aired at least three hours per week of Core Programming (as defined in
   paragraph (c) of this section and as averaged over a six month period) will
   be deemed to have satisfied its obligation to air such programming and shall
   have the CTA portion of its license renewal application approved by the
   Commission staff. A licensee will also be deemed to have satisfied this
   obligation and be eligible for such staff approval if the licensee
   demonstrates that it has aired a package of different types of educational
   and informational programming that, while containing somewhat less than
   three hours per week of Core Programming, demonstrates a level of commitment
   to educating and informing children that is at least equivalent to airing
   three hours per week of Core Programming. In this regard, specials, PSAs,
   short-form programs, and regularly scheduled non-weekly programs with a
   significant purpose of educating and informing children can count toward the
   three hour per week processing guideline. Licensees that do not meet these
   processing guidelines will be referred to the Commission, where they will
   have full opportunity to demonstrate compliance with the CTA (e.g., by
   relying in part on sponsorship of core educational/informational programs on
   other stations in the market that increases the amount of core educational
   and informational programming on the station airing the sponsored program
   and/or on special nonbroadcast efforts which enhance the value of children's
   educational and informational television programming).

   [ 56 FR 19616 , Apr. 29, 1991. Redesignated at  56 FR 28825 , June 25, 1991, as
   amended at  61 FR 43997 , Aug. 27, 1996;  70 FR 37 , Jan. 3, 2005]