§ 73.671   Educational and informational programming for children.

   Link to an amendment published at  84 FR 41935 , Aug. 16, 2019.

   (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 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.;

   (3) It is a regularly scheduled weekly program, except that a licensee
   may air a limited amount of programming that is not regularly scheduled
   on a weekly basis, including educational specials and regularly
   scheduled non-weekly programming, and have that programming count as
   Core Programming, as described in paragraph (d) of this section;

   (4) It is at least 30 minutes in length, except that a licensee may air
   a limited amount of short-form programming, including public service
   announcements and interstitials, and have that programming count as
   Core Programming, as described in paragraph (d) of this section;

   (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) The target child audience is specified in writing in the licensee's
   Children's Television Programming Report, as described in
   § 73.3526(e)(11)(iii); and

   (7) 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 § 73.673.

   (d) The Commission will apply the processing guideline in this
   paragraph (d) to digital stations in assessing whether a television
   broadcast licensee has complied with the Children's Television Act of
   1990 (“CTA”) on its digital channel(s). A digital television licensee
   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 if it 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), or a total of 156
   hours of Core Programming annually, including at least 26 hours per
   quarter of regularly scheduled weekly programming and up to 52 hours
   annually of Core Programming of at least 30 minutes in length that is
   not regularly scheduled weekly programming, such as educational
   specials and regularly scheduled non-weekly programming. A licensee
   will also been deemed to have satisfied the obligation in this
   paragraph (d) and be eligible for such staff approval if it has aired a
   total of 156 hours of Core Programming annually, including at least 26
   hours per quarter of regularly scheduled weekly programming and up to
   52 hours of Core Programming that is not regularly scheduled on a
   weekly basis, such as educational specials and regularly scheduled
   non-weekly programming, and short-form programs of less than 30 minutes
   in length, including public service announcements and interstitials.
   Licensees that multicast are permitted to air up to 13 hours per
   quarter of regularly scheduled weekly programming on a multicast
   stream. The remainder of a station's Core Programming must be aired on
   the station's primary stream. Licensees that do not meet the processing
   guidelines in this paragraph (d) will be referred to the Commission,
   where they will have full opportunity to demonstrate compliance with
   the CTA 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
   non-broadcast efforts which enhance the value of children's educational
   and informational television programming.

   (e) A station that preempts an episode of a regularly scheduled weekly
   Core Program will be permitted to count the episode toward the
   processing guidelines set forth in paragraph (d) of this section as
   follows:

   (1)-(2) [Reserved]

   (3) A station that preempts an episode of a regularly scheduled weekly
   Core Program to air non-regularly scheduled live programming produced
   locally by the station will not be required to reschedule the episode.

   Note 1 to § 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.

   [ 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;
    71 FR 64165 , Nov. 1, 2006;  83 FR 5544 , Feb. 8, 2018;  84 FR 41934 , Aug.
   16, 2019]

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