Sec. 73.671  Educational and informational programming for children.

    (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 educational and informational objective and the target child 
audience are specified in writing in the licensee's Children's 
Television Programming Report, as described in Sec. 73.3526(a)(8)(iii); 
and
    (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]

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