1990s

1990's

MAJOR TRENDS OF THE DECADE

Public television stations cut back on staff and reduce programming to schools.

Educators place emphasis on humanities and world affairs, and usage of ITV reflects this preference. (Cambre)

(radio) 1990- 99% of U.S. homes have at least one radio; the average home owns 5 radios. (Fact Monster web site)

(tv) 1990- The Children’s Television Act (CTA) goes into effect, requiring the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in evaluating television license renewal requests, to "consider the extent to which the licensee . . . has served the educational and informational needs of children through the licensee's overall programming, including programming specifically designed to serve such needs." (FCC, 1996)

(tv) 1990 ITV organizational structure (Cambre, 1995)

Over 150 local ITV agencies exist across the United States.
Generally local ITV agencies are divisions of state departments of education or of public broadcasting stations, though some are independent or under administration of school districts, etc.
As of 1983, 55% of school districts with ITV available had building-level ITV coordinators.
ITV utilization specialists, often ex-teachers, are the main contacts between ITV agencies and schools.
3 regional agencies coordinate group purchases, coordinate satellite feeds and local productions, etc. and also contribute to national ITV community:

            1. Pacific Mountain Network (PMN) hosts First View, yearly conference
                to screen ITV productions.
            2. Central Educational Network (CEN) hosts SatScreen, a satellite
                 screening of new ITV productions.
            3. Southern Educational Communications Association (SECA) administers
                transmission of scheduled programming via National Instructional Satellite
                Schedule.

PBS markets and promotes ITV and broadcasts ITV programs nationally.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) administers federal funding for ITV.

(tv) 1990- A survey indicates that during the 1990-1991 school year, 97.1% of all teachers have access to instructional television and that 79.4% of all teachers use it. (Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 1992)
[READ MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE RESULTS OF THIS SURVEY]

(tv) 1990- As of this point, the Learning Channel is the only educational cable network which is focused primarily on instructional programming. (Saettler, 1990)

(tv) 1991- In response to the CTA, the FCC enacts some regulations regarding children’s programming; these are vague and prove largely ineffective. (FCC, 1996)

(tv) 1994- At this time, about 14.5% of public television broadcasting is devoted to instructional programming, with PBS as the major source (63.9%).

(tv) 1996- August 8: The FCC adopts a Report and Order “amending its children's educational and informational television programming requirements to strengthen its enforcement of the Children's Television Act of 1990”. The new requirements involve three key factors:

Providing the general public with better information about broadcasters’ obligations.
Clearly defining “core programming” as programs that “generally must have serving the educational and informational needs of children as a significant purpose; be aired between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.; be a regularly scheduled weekly program; and be at least 30 minutes in length.”
Establishing clear guidelines for stations: a minimum of three hours of core programming per week. (FCC web site)

(tv) 1996- Studies show that in 1996, by the time a child enters school, he or she will have watched the equivalent of three school years’ worth of television. (FCC, 1996)

(tv) 1996- President Clinton signs legislation significantly deregulating television broadcasting. (Fact Monster web site)

(tv) 1998- Digital broadcasting by public television stations begins. (CPB web site)

(tv) 1998- PBS affiliate WNEO/WEAO (also known as PBS 45 & 49) broadcasts ITV directly to classroom computers in seven Ohio counties. Users can select and play clips via web browser and can also author, digitize, and publish their own video clips and Web materials on a server maintained by the station. (Felix, 1998)

(tv) 1999- Paying close attention to his color (lavender), purse (carried), and head ornamentation (a triangle), minister Jerry Falwell accuses educational television character Tinky Winky the Teletubby of being gay.

1800's 1900's 1910's 1920's 1930's 1940's 1950's 1960's 1970's 1980's 1990's

cite as: Miller, Mary and Teresa Cruce. A 20th Century Timeline: Classroom Use of Instructional Film, Radio, and Television. //http://www.arches.uga.edu/~mlmiller/timeline/1990s.html [date viewed]

Last update: August 26, 2005
Comments to: Mary Miller mlmiller@uga.edu
Created by Mary Miller and Teresa Cruce
for Dr. Thomas Reeves' UGA class EDIT 6100, spring 2002
URL=//http://www.arches.uga.edu/~mlmiller/timeline/1990s.html