Kid

Kids Educational And Informational Needs

Last Updated Oct 5, 2008 11:21 AM

73. The CTA requires every television broadcaster to air programming "specifically designed" to serve the educational and informational needs of kids.(181) Our current definition of educational and informational programming -- "programming that furthers the positive development of kids 16 years of age and under in any respect, including the child's intellectual/cognitive or social/emotional needs"(182) -- is very broad and does not further delineate criteria for programs that are "specifically designed" to educate and inform kids. In the NPRM, we explained that some stations were identifying general audience and entertainment programming in their renewal applications as programming specifically designed to serve kids's educational and informational needs. These circumstances led us tentatively to conclude that our current definition does not provide licensees with sufficient guidance regarding their obligation to air core programming.(183)

74. To remedy this situation, we proposed to supplement our broad definition of educational and informational programming with a more particularized definition of programming specifically designed to serve kids's educational and informational needs. Indeed, we noted that programming "specifically designed" to meet the educational and informational needs of kids was the "only category of programming that the CTA specifically requires every licensee to provide."(184) We stated that a clearer definition of "specifically designed" or "core" programming appeared to be necessary to help stimulate an adequate supply of such programming in view of the apparent confusion among some licensees regarding this aspect of their kids's programming obligation.

75. Specifically, we proposed to define core educational programming as those programs that meet the following requirements: (1) the program has education as a significant purpose; (2) the educational objective of the program and the target child audience are specified in writing in the kids's programming report; (3) the program is aired between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m.; (4) the program is regularly scheduled; (5) the program is of a substantial length (e.g., 15 or 30 minutes); and (6) the program is identified as educational kids's programming at the time it is aired, and instructions for listing it as educational programming are provided by the licensee to program guides.(185)

76. Today, we adopt a definition of core educational and informational programming that is very similar to that proposed in the NPRM. We intend that this definition will identify programming that clearly meets the statutory obligation to air programming "specifically designed" to meet the educational and informational needs of kids. We emphasize that licensees should not regard our definition of core programming as imposing a limit on their ability to air other programming that teaches and informs kids even if that programming does not square with each element of our definition of core programming. Our definition identifies core programming that we will look to for purposes of renewal processing to ensure that a broadcaster has met its responsibility under the CTA. Beyond this responsibility, we encourage licensees to air a wide variety of programming directed to kids that meets their educational and informational needs.

77. Comments. Many commenters strongly supported providing licensees with clearer guidance regarding their obligation to air programming "specifically designed" to educate and inform kids. Public interest groups, kids's programming researchers, kids's programming producers, as well as other commenters, generally agreed that the Commission's proposed definition would assist licensees to determine what programs comply with their obligation to air programming specifically designed to serve kids's educational and informational needs, and would improve the overall quality of kids's educational and informational programming.(186) In contrast, broadcasters' reaction to the Commission's proposal was mixed. Although some -- including three of the four major broadcast networks -- agreed with the principle that a clearer definition would provide certainty to licensees,(187) others argued that the present definition of educational and informational programming is working and should be retained.(188)

NAB filed initial comments arguing for retention of our existing definition,(189) but later filed supplemental comments supporting many aspects of the definition proposed in the NPRM.(190) In addition, a number of broadcasters voiced their concern that the concept of "core" programming contravenes Congress' intent to give broadcasters wide discretion in choosing the programs they believe are educational and informational, and that it ignores the CTA's requirement that licensees serve kids's educational and informational needs through their "overall programming" in addition to programming "specifically designed" to serve those needs. These parties argue that the Commission may not ignore any programming that does in fact serve the educational and informational needs of kids, and point out that programming that does not comply with our definition of programming "specifically designed" for kids can nevertheless contribute to a licensee's fulfillment of its obligations under the CTA.(191)

78. Discussion. The evidence in the record supports our general proposal to adopt a definition of core educational and informational programming. Several of the studies submitted in this proceeding suggest that some licensees are uncertain about what to classify as programming specifically designed to meet kids's educational and informational needs.(192) This conclusion is supported by our experience in reviewing renewal applications and in evaluating licensees' efforts to meet their CTA obligation to air programming "specifically designed" to educate and inform kids. We agree with those commenters who believe that a particularized definition will assist broadcasters and will avoid potentially misplaced reliance on general audience and entertainment programs as specifically designed to educate and inform. By more precisely defining "specifically designed" programming, we increase the likelihood that such programs will be aired, concomitantly increasing the likelihood kids will benefit as Congress intended, from such programs.

79. We will retain, with a slight modification, our existing definition of "educational and informational programming" to provide a description of the broad variety of programs that can serve to comply with a licensee's overall requirement to air programming that meets kids's educational and informational needs. Our existing definition states that "educational and informational television programming is any television programming which furthers the positive development of kids 16 years of age and under in any respect, including the child's intellectual/cognitive or social/emotional needs."(193) In order to track more closely the express language of the CTA, we will modify this definition somewhat so that the broad category of "educational and informational television programming" is defined as "any television programming that furthers the educational and informational needs of kids 16 years of age and under in any respect, including kids's intellectual/cognitive or social/emotional needs."

80. The definition of core programming that we adopt is designed to provide licensees with clear guidance regarding how we will evaluate renewal applications. The elements of our proposed definition are also designed to be as objective as possible so that they are more easily understood by licensees and the Commission staff and to avoid injecting the Commission unnecessarily into sensitive decisions regarding program content. As we stated in the NPRM, programming specifically designed to serve kids's educational and informational needs is the only category of programming the CTA expressly requires each licensee to provide. Adopting a definition of such programming will promote this statutory objective by more precisely defining the programming that qualifies and, consequently, provide appropriate incentives to increase the amount of such programming. We further believe that the definition we adopt today will continue to provide broadcasters ample discretion in designing and producing such programming.

We emphasize that the test of whether programming qualifies as core does not depend in any way on its topic or viewpoint. The test is whether it is "specifically designed" to serve the educational and informational needs of kids. We now turn to the specific elements of the new definition of core programming.

See also Kid 621 1 - 10